Forging The Ninja Steel
by Darien Fawkes
Summary: A new power comes to Earth, and with it dangerous villains intent on taking it for themselves. Fortunately for Summer Cove, a few brave young people are willing to take up this new fight.
1. Chapter 1

**Legal:** I do not own Power Rangers, or the associated names, places, events, characters etc. Anything not covered by these rights should be considered purely the creation of the author.

 **Rating:** T – there may be some adult material, including violence and language.

The Warrior Dome ship continued on its journey, making a quick cut through an asteroid belt, shunting aside hunks of ice and rock larger than continents without so much as slowing it down. It was an excellent metaphor for the juggernaut Cosmo Royale had built up with his vision, genius and complete lack of empathy or humanity.

Galaxy Warriors was the most popular show in the universe by a significant margin. In the ratings, it wasn't even close! It regularly defeated anything else in its time slot by a good five hundred points easily! Cosmo had even managed to blackmail sponsors or politicians that wouldn't bend to his will by threatening to air free shows during their time slots, something that would devastate and bankrupt them with ease. None of that concerned Brody though; the only thing that concerned him was getting off this God-forsaken ship.

Officially, his job title was 'intern', it was something of a way that Cosmo liked to dress things up. He had thousands of 'interns' all working on the ship, but a far more accurate title for them would be slaves! For all the Kudabot labourers on the ship, and for every one paid employee, Cosmo would procure at least a thousand workers from every system they visited that would be made to perform menial tasks he considered too unimportant or too complex even for the Kudabots. Some came on board willingly, believing that by working hard and showing Cosmo what they could do that they would one day become paid employees and even executives, but the majority were either sold or traded by their home systems and some were outright kidnapped. Brody was one of the latter.

Deep within the bowels of the ship, he worked on a practice dummy, practicing his moves. He had been taken from his home when he was only seven years old.

He could still remember vividly the day Galvanax, the current reigning and defending champion of Galaxy Warriors came to his planet, seeking the Ninja Nexus Prism. His father, a great and powerful ninja, had fought bravely to defend the Nexus Prism, but ultimately had fallen in that battle. It was the last time Brody had seen his father, his brother Aiden, or even his planet.

He had been a slave on the ship for ten long years, but while other slaves quickly fell to depression, usually succumbing to illness, accidents, the sadistic whims of the contestants in Cosmo's cosmic blood-sports or simply couldn't face their meagre existence anymore and took their own lives within only a couple of years, Brody had managed to channel his anger, his desire to avenge his father into a will stronger than any alloy. For ten years, any time he had spare time he had worked on perfecting the skills his father had taught him, all in the hopes that one day, he would finally be free of the ship.

He had been a scrawny kid when he came here, but over the years, between hard labour and his training, he had forged his body into a strong and powerful weapon, all in hiding while mastering stealth and misdirection to ensure that none of his captors would ever learn of his skills. While they knew all too well that the slaves who hadn't lost hope of escape or promotion all desired to be free, they were always on the lookout for those who might just have the means to attempt an escape. That was why Brody's training had always been in secret.

His father, Dane Romero, had a reputation as one of the greatest ninjas on Earth, and although Brody knew that realistically he had only trained him for a couple of years, Brody had managed to make up for it. He had gone out of his way to explore the ship, regularly going into restricted areas and challenging himself with the security on the ship. Despite the punishments on the occasions he was caught, it was worth it all to improve the skills he knew would one day get him off the ship.

"Brody, it's time to stop." He heard Redbot say. The robot had been standing guard at the door, looking out for any sign of someone that didn't know of Brody's training. He didn't want anyone to find out just how far he had progressed in his training, the last thing he wanted was for anyone to know how close he was to being able to execute his ultimate plan. The first rule of ninjitsu was misdirection. The ancient ninja relied as much on misinformation and rumour as they did on any weapon. Enemies that believed they were weak, they would underestimate them and be easily led into traps, while enemies that believed all the rumours and hearsay of 'magic' and supernatural abilities they possessed would fear the ninja and be off-guard. Right now, he was certain the only reason he hadn't been terminated was because none of them believed he was a danger to them. They believed him to be just another slave that harboured futile hopes of escape, and for now...that suited Brody down to the ground!

"Just a minute..."

"Brody, someone's coming!" Redbot warned him again.

"Just a few more..."

"Brody, it's time to go!" Mick agreed, morphing from the practice dummy back into himself. Unfortunately he did so just as Brody was throwing a kick and caught a hard kick right in the ribs. "OW!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it!" Brody said apologetically. Mick was the Head Mechanic on the Warrior Dome, a slave from the Lion Galaxy. He had been on the ship longer than Brody had, and while he was still a slave, refusing to buy into the mentality and sadistic nature of the business, he had earned a few privileges as a result of his mechanical skill. He was also a shape-shifter. Mick's people were able to take on other forms, and in a limited capacity the chemical properties of whatever they changed into. Occasionally it came in handy, such as being able to change his hands into ceramic when he wanted to handle anything hot, or change into a padded training dummy whenever Brody wanted to practice. Brody didn't like the fact he had hurt Mick, who was his oldest friend on the ship, but he furrowed his brows as he looked to him. "Mick, why did you change? You know it only hurts when..."

"Well maybe I was done literally let you kick my butt all day!" Mick said, rubbing his ribs. "Or maybe...I remembered that we're actually meant to be at the stage right...oh...too late!"

"RAT BAIT!" Ripcon called out angrily, searching the ship. Ripcon was a sinister and sadistic warrior, a long-time favourite on the Warrior Dome. He had been in many notable contests, but he really wanted more of a role in the production of the show. He was wise enough to know that a career competing in a sport where losing literally meant death was not one with a future he wanted to pursue. He shared his duties between his select few bouts and helping Cosmo to control his talent and his workers backstage. He shoved Redbot out of the way, coming into the room as he found Brody. "Where the hell have you been? I've been looking all over for you!"

"I've been right here, helping Mick." Brody told him. Brody loathed Ripcon, he always had. Not only had Ripcon been instrumental in his father's destruction, distracting his father at a crucial moment in his battle with Galvanax, he had been the one to drag Brody onto the ship on the day he was kidnapped. While Brody only really cared about escaping the ship, he had often dreamed of one day being the one to destroy Ripcon.

"Helping him do what?" Ripcon asked him, looking around. The room was empty, and there was really no reason for them to be there. Mick started to stammer, trying to think of an excuse, but Brody just stared down Ripcon, who just smirked.

"I know what this is...you were trying out some of that ninja stuff again weren't you?" He asked. Ripcon had caught Brody a couple of times, practicing his 'ninja tricks' as he put it. However, so far Ripcon treated it as more of a joke than anything else. He constantly taunted Brody about how his father had been no match for them and sought to belittle Brody's efforts to emulate him, to break his spirit and get him to abandon his hopes of escape.

"Ninja? No...no..."

"What if I was?" Brody asked him. "What would you do about it?"

"Go ahead, why don't you show me one of your tricks." Ripcon taunted him. He held out a keycard and showed it to Brody. "This card opens every security door on the ship. If you can take it, I'll give you a twenty four hour head start to leave the ship! I won't so much as move from this spot!"

"Brody, we have work to do." Mick warned him, seeing the danger in this game. He knew that Ripcon was just taunting Brody, trying to show his dominance, but he worried that Brody would do something ill-advised. As disciplined as Brody was, especially when it came to his dad, he could be a little hot-headed.

"OK!" Brody told him, turning his back. "Put it in one of your pockets. I won't even look to see which pocket you put it in."

Ripcon put the security card in his pocket and stood with his arms outstretched.

"Go ahead Ratbait, take it!" Ripcon told him. Brody turned around and thrust his hand into Ripcon's jacket. The alien grabbed his hand, putting him into a painful wrist lock, before back-fisting him across the face. Brody hit the ground, spitting up some blood on his shirt.

"Nice try Ratbait." Ripcon told him. "You're both needed on the stage level. They just dragged what's left of the last loser out of there and there are some entrails with your name on them! Just be glad they're not yours!"

He laughed as he left, at which Mick helped Brody up. He just sighed and shook his head.

"I tried to warn you, that wasn't going to end well." Mick told him. "You don't really think he'd have let you walk out of here with his pass key do you? Come on, it's show time."

As Mick left, Brody wiped the blood from his face.

"Of course he wasn't going to let me walk out of here with his keycard." Brody commented with a smile, unfolding a piece of paper. "But the security over-ride codes for the escape pods...I don't think he'll miss this for a while!"

Down on Earth, in the city of Summer Cove, a young woman was sitting at her breakfast table getting ready for her first day at a new school. There was nothing unusual about this, kids got ready for school every day of the week. There wasn't even anything unusual about the fact Sarah had transferred. Families moved home all the time, but Sarah was far from a typical girl. She just laughed as an explosion came from her tablet.

"Are you watching that stupid sci fi show again?" Her mother asked her. "What is it again?"

"Galaxy Warriors!" Sarah mumbled through some cereal. "Hey, it might be silly, but the production values and the special effects are great! It's honestly so terrible it's awesome!"

"Well, would you mind at least turning it off for now?" Her mom asked her. "I'm sure it'll still be on the air when you get home."

Sarah shrugged and turned off her tablet. She had discovered the show while she was in Amber Beach. Unbeknownst to her parents, she had stumbled upon the identities of the Power Rangers in that city, and had helped them in the lab while they were active. To her parents, as far as they knew, she just had a part-time job in a museum gift shop.

Sarah had a natural aptitude for technology, but more than that she had an unquenchable adventurous streak and a will to help those in need. Even if she never got to actually become a Ranger, she had loved being a part of it. Her mother had been injured in one of the Ranger's battles, and she had seen any help she could give them, however minor as the least she could do to pay them back for the fact her mother was still around. She had found the show by accident while looking for signals from space when they were trying to find the Silver Ranger, and become somewhat hooked on it. It seemed even aliens liked cheesy sci-fi shows which appeared to be kind of a glorified version of wrestling as far as she could see.

As she shut off her tablet, her phone buzzed, signalling she had a message. She smiled as she read it. Dr Morgan, her old boss, and the former Purple Ranger was just sending her a message of support on her first day in her new school.

"More messages?" Her mother asked. Sarah just nodded. "It's sweet your friends in Amber Beach are keeping in touch."

"They all just want to be sure I'm having a good time." Sarah answered. Just then, her dad came into the living room in a suit, singing. "Well, someone's in a good mood!"

"And why wouldn't I be? I have a beautiful home in a beautiful town and I have two beautiful ladies in my life!" He said cheerfully, kissing his wife, and then Sarah on the cheek as he went to the toaster to make himself a bagel and turn on the coffee machine. "Not to mention I have a fantastic new job!"

"Dad, you're an auditor!" Sarah chuckled, slurping down some cheerios. "You are literally the ONLY person I know that could actually be singing about the prospect of staring at sheets of numbers all day."

"Are you trying to say your dad's a dork?" Mr Thompson asked her. Mrs Thompson just nodded her head.

"Al, I married you and even I have to admit, you're a complete dork." Mrs Thompson agreed with her daughter.

"You know what; this day is so amazing even my two favourite ladies ganging up on me can't ruin it." Al answered as his bagel popped up out of the toaster. He started to spread some cream cheese. "Now, I know I promised I'd give you a lift to school, but it turns out my company car doesn't come until next week..."

"Hey, that's fine by me!" Sarah told him, gesturing to her hoverboard.

"Well, you should probably be heading out soon." Al told her. "You want to be there nice and early for registration."

"Dad, things like that are done online now. I just need to pick up my schedule." Sarah laughed at his expense, finishing her cereal and putting the bowl in the dishwasher. "But I did want to get in early, see what the other kids are like."

"Have a good time dear." Her mother called after her. "Try not to get into any trouble!"

"In this town?" Sarah scoffed as she headed out the door. "I doubt I could get into trouble if I tried!"

Meanwhile, up on the Warrior Dome, Brody and Mick had finished cleaning up and were preparing for the next show. While Galaxy Warriors was a weekly television show, they ran contests on the ship on virtually a daily basis. They needed to give themselves time for editing and ensure they had a backlog of footage in case their shows ever ran short. The unfortunate nature of the fact the matches were real was that no one could ever predict how long they would be meaning it was possible matches would over-run, which wasn't TOO much of a problem since Cosmo pretty much dictated the network schedule, but sometimes matches were brutally short. It also meant that those that paid a premium to attend shows live in the warrior dome got something for their money, getting to see matches and events that weren't on the show.

Brody and Mick were standing just off the stage as Cosmo arrived, talking on his cell phone.

"Well it's not MY fault the Lion Galaxy needs a new ruler, King Leonis knew what he was getting into when he signed the waivers, now if they don't like it they can sue but we all know how that will end!" Cosmo said as he hung up and twirled his top hat onto his head. "How's the crowd looking Odious?"

"They're just itching for the latest show." She told him. "We're running a little behind, but a few volleys from the t-shirt cannon and they were happy."

"I'll bet they were, Galvanax's merchandise has been selling like it's running out!" Cosmo stated.

"Because it is." Mick commented. "You control the production and you've deliberately set production low so to drive the prices up for collectors."

"Oh details, details!" Cosmo said as he sprayed a throat spray into his mouth, before marching onto the stage triumphantly. The crowd erupted as they saw him.

"Greetings fight fans! Who do you love?" He called out, cupping his hand behind his ear awaiting their response.

"COSMO!" They called out.

"I can't hear you, who do you love?" He called out again.

"COSMO!" They called out again. He smiled at the greeting.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, welcome to the most barbaric, brutal, and successful show in all of creation...GALAXY WARRIORS!"

The crowd cheered in delight as the lights came up and the music started. A couple of Kudabots wheeled the Ninja Nexus Prism onto the stage. It was a huge, glowing crystal that housed the Ninja Power Stars, talismans of immense power that were sealed away, only able to be accessed by those that the Prism deemed worthy. The last time person who had been able to reach inside was Brody's father. It galled him to see that power now being held as a prize in this show, and longed to ensure that just like his father; he would someday secure that power from anyone that would seek to use it for evil purposes.

"The mightiest, nastiest, and smelliest monsters in the universe will all compete for an opportunity to take one of the Ninja Power Stars from the prism, and who knows; perhaps one will even earn the right to challenge the supreme warrior, our reigning and defending champion, GALVANAX!" He announced, whipping up the crowd for the contest. He gestured to the edge of the stage. "Firstly, from the Extan system, we have Langor! He will go one on one with Korvaka, the champion of the Ninninjer Galaxy!"

He gestured to the two contestants as they stared at each other.

"Now, we've found a battle ground, a quaint little place called...EARTH!" Cosmo stated, which piqued Mick's attention.

"We're...we're heading to Earth?" Mick asked. "As in...your home planet Earth?"

"Why do you think I've been training so hard lately?" Brody asked him. "Once the show's over, we're getting out of here."

"How did you even know where we were?" Mick asked him.

"The new intern told me. He hacked into the navigation system." Brody told him. "He said he'll cut surveillance for a few minutes once the show's over, that means once the battle's over and we're told to take the Prism back into storage, we only have a short window to get the hell out of here."

"Brody, the new intern...are you sure you can trust him?" Mick asked. Brody just looked to Mick and shrugged. "I mean...he did come onto this ship by choice. He can't be THAT smart!"

"I know this is the first time we've been in this galaxy in ten years. We might not get another opportunity." Brody answered as Cosmo hit the command, sending both combatants to Earth. "So right now, we don't have a choice."


	2. First Day Meetings

Normally, a young man in his late teens sitting on the back seat of a school bus wearing a tuxedo and a top hat would be a pretty unusual sight, even in California. However, no one even batted an eyelid or looked his direction as they concentrated on their own conversations and communicating on their phones and various devices. By now, everyone was more than used to seeing this, with the exception of his "David Copperfield" phase, where he insisted on wearing black shirts that he only buttoned halfway up his chest until he ended getting a serious chill, Preston Tien had dressed this way since he was six years old.

Preston loved magic. He didn't like it, he LOVED it. It was an obsession for the young man ever since he was five years old. He spent all his free time working on tricks and trying to figure out new illusions all in the hopes of one day being invited to join the elite and illustrious Magic Circle.

There was a catch of course, since he WASN'T a member of the Magic Circle, and as far as he knew he didn't know anyone that was, that meant Preston was pretty much on his own. There were books and kits, there were even online videos that explained how many tricks were done, but those were mostly the bread-and-butter, the tricks that had been performed so many times and by so many people that they were considered public domain. No one really cared anymore if someone gave away the secrets of how a Svengali Deck, a specially designed deck of cards worked or if anyone explained how to make the ball in the shell game disappear, but the real tricks, the ones people paid actual money to see, making buildings disappear, escaping a car being crushed...those were the kind of things that needed to be taught by a professional!

It was still pretty unusual for a kid to go to school dressed like a stage magician. That said, the Tien family name carried more than a little sway in the city. His father owned the largest business empire in the city. While it wasn't exactly a monopoly, it wasn't far off it! Public transport, soft drinks, confectionery, malls, rented accommodation, hotels, restaurants...there was virtually nothing that the Tien family didn't have a significant stake in. Preston had hated the private school his dad had wanted to send him to and his mom had outright refused to even entertain the thought of boarding school, which was the only reason he even went to a public school. Of course given the fact that his dad wrote five-figure donation checks like most people wrote out grocery lists, the school was more than a little willing to give Preston a little more flexibility than they normally would give their students.

As the bus pulled up to the front of Summer Cove High, he took in a deep breath and twirled his top hat onto his head, before attempting to walk away. He didn't get too far before he felt himself being tugged backwards. He looked back to see some girls tangled up in a string of scarves that were coming out of his sleeve, that had got caught in the door.

"Oh, sorry!" Preston said, disentangling them from the scarves, all the time lamenting the fact that he knew it would take at least half an hour to put them all back into his jacket. It was unlikely he would get a chance to do so between classes if he wanted to be ready for his show at lunch break. That reminded him! He pulled out some flyers, offering them to the girls that had been tangled in the scarves.

"I'm putting on a magic show at lunch time." He told them, offering them a flyer. The two girls just looked to them like he had offered them a used Kleenex and politely declined. Preston got that reaction alot. Sadly, he knew that his tricks were mostly the kind of thing that stopped impressing the average 12 year old, but he always held out hope that if he kept practicing them, if he perfected them, then perhaps in time it would come to him how to do more interesting tricks that would impress his peers. "Hey, you there! Anyone want to come to my magic show at lunchtime?"

A little way off, a yellow truck was stopped in a red zone just outside the front of the school. Normally most would be expecting to see a mom dropping off her kids, but in this instance, it was a couple of kids who had managed to break down literally just around the corner from the school car park. The look of impatience on the girl in the passenger seat's face told the story that this wasn't exactly a rare occurrence.

Hayley, sadly, was used to this. Calvin was a great mechanic, and he had all but built his truck, his beloved 'Nitro' from the tyres up, but he had done so as much because his family simply couldn't afford a car as he did for his love of mechanics. The fact that he couldn't afford particularly great parts meant that his engine was essentially a patchwork of patch jobs upon patch jobs. Sometimes, those patches just slipped.

"It's OK Cody." She assured her dog, who was sitting in the bed of the truck. Cody was a rescue dog that had been with her since it was a puppy. Well, it wasn't so much a rescue dog as a puppy they had found by the side of the road with no identification, having been left for dead after a careless motorist had side-swiped him. Hayley had taken him straight to the vet, and when it became clear that no one was looking for him, she had taken him in. Hayley was a warm-hearted girl, a genuine and loving person that always looked for ways to make the world a less cruel and unfeeling place. Cody now hardly ever left her side. While she was at school, he would content himself around the grounds, but he didn't want to be too far away from his mistress. Her boyfriend Calvin stuck his head out from under the truck.

"Alright Hayley, turn her over!" He called to her. Hayley reached for the key, turning it in the ignition, causing the engine to burst into life. "YES! I knew I could count on you girl!"

"You did it Calvin!" Hayley called down to him, knowing that he was talking to the truck and not her. She did occasionally have to remind him that although he did refer to Nitro as 'she' or 'her' that it was actually an inanimate object, but she never took it personally. She already knew how Calvin felt about her. They had been together for over a year. Something moving quickly caught her eye and she saw what looked like a girl on a skateboard coming straight for Calvin.

"Cal, look out!" She screamed as she saw the girl coming. Calvin yelled and lay down, covering his head, expecting to be hit, but the girl skipped over him without touching him. He cautiously looked around, seeing her continuing on her way. He thought it was odd that she seemed to be levitating above the ground.

"Sorry!" Sarah called back apologetically as she got to the school doors and kicked up her hoverboard. She took a long look at the building before her and smiled.

"It is a nice place." Preston greeted her, causing Sarah to jump a little, startled. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"No, it's alright, I wasn't paying attention." She told him. "Hi, I'm Sarah, I'm new around here!"

"Hi, I'm Preston." He answered, shaking her hand. "It's not the fanciest of places, but it's kind of cool. It's not especially strict. Here, they're letting me have a magic show on the grounds at lunch time. Do you want to come?"

"Magic show?" Sarah asked him. "Yeah, that sounds sweet. I'll be there!"

As she left, Preston just found herself staring at her in disbelief.

"She...she actually WANTS to come to one of my shows?" He asked, looking a little surprised by this. He shook his head and went back to handing out flyers. If he kept this up, he might beat his own record and actually get five kids watching today!

Up on the Warrior Dome, the fans were ecstatic as Korvaka, the champion of the Ninninjer Galaxy returned from Earth as the victor. The battle had been fierce, and the audience more than got their money's worth from it. He clutched a deep, grievous wound in his side, which was still bleeding heavily, but he drove his sword into the stage and held his fist aloft in victory to accept the crowd's cheers.

"Now how about that? Korvaka has done it! He's claimed today's ultimate prize!" Cosmo Royale greeted him, taking his hand and holding it up for the crowd. "That makes 25 victories for the Champion of the Ninninjer Galaxy, and you all know what that means. He now gets his choice of prize. He may either try to retrieve one of the legendary stars from the Nexus Prism, or...he can challenge the supreme fighter for the championship of the Warrior Dome!"

The crowd came alive as a door opened up and a massive shadow appeared in the darkness, one that started coming towards them.

"The victor of over 10,000 battles, the ravager of worlds, the desecrator of the defeated, the reigning and defending Galaxy Warriors Champion...GALVANAX!"

Galvanax stepped out of the door and into the light, holding his title belt high above his head. He was an immense creature, wearing heavy golden armour. He lived for the adulation of the crowd, and he had reigned supreme over the Warrior Dome for years. He made his way towards Korvaka, towering over the creature that had been given the prize of an opportunity to fight him. Standing, his knees buckling beneath him, Korvaka just gulped. Right now, the prospect of facing Galvanax didn't seem like much of a prize.

"I'll take the Prism!" Korvaka called out, following the long line of creatures that had been given the same choice.

"He's going to try the Prism!" Cosmo called out for the crowd. "Korvaka has been the victor over 25 of the deadliest warriors in the universe, but is he mighty enough to best the Ninja Nexus Prism?"

Korvaka approached the Ninja Nexus Prism, staring at the powerful artefact nervously. Just off stage, Mick, Redbot and Brody were watching on in interest. Korvaka reached his hand for the prism, but just as he touched it, he screamed out in agony and was thrown across the stage by a massive spark of lightning. The audience let their disappointment be known as he started twitching on the floor, and a couple of Kudabots dragged him away.

"Aw too bad! Still, he does win one thing, a trip to the hospital!" Cosmo stated as he addressed the audience. "And this concludes yet another thrilling episode of Galaxy Warriors! Be sure to tip your servers generously and stop by the merchandise stands for your officially branded merchandise! Accept no substitute! Remember, if it's counterfeit, then Galvanax will relieve you of your head! Good night!"

As he strode off the stage to music, he was met by a couple of Kudabots. One of them was carrying a cigar, while another was carrying a martini. He lit up his cigar and took a sip of his martini as Odius approached him.

"Go on; give me the good news Madame Odious!" He said as Ripcon and Galvanax approached.

"You were right; the mere mention of a championship match bumped the ratings by seventeen points." She told him. Cosmo started doing a madcap dance.

"Oh, I can already hear the profits rolling in!" He declared giddily. Galvanax just stomped in frustration.

"Who cares about ratings?" He yelled at him. "Ten years! For ten years we've been trying to get the Ninja Stars out of that prism and not one of these warriors has been able to do it!"

"Who...who cares about...ratings?" Cosmo stammered, clutching his chest like he was about to have a heart attack. He was interrupted as Madame Odious stepped in between them.

"Perhaps we don't need them. Perhaps we can make new Power Stars." She suggested.

"New power stars?" Ripcon asked her. "How would you propose we do that?"

"Well, I've done some research and when the Ninja Nexus Prism fell to Earth, it was covered in a substance known as Ninja Steel." She informed them. "It is the same substance that was used to forge those stars."

"But there was no Ninja Steel when we took this thing!" Ripcon reminded her. "We found it like this!"

"Then someone, most likely that ninja you destroyed when you took it, probably stripped it off." She told him. "Do you not find it odd that a mere steel sword would be capable of shattering the Ninja Nexus Star?"

"You mean..."

"What I mean is, the Ninja Steel must still be on Earth." She told him. "We can use it to forge new power stars!"

Not far off, as they were loading the Ninja Nexus Prism onto a trolley to take it away, Brody was listening to every word. One of the advantages of being a slave was that quickly people forgot you were there. Hardly anyone noticed the people who were cleaning their floors or serving their meals, but that didn't mean they didn't hear everything.

As they were taking the Nexus Prism away, Mick looked to him.

"They're going to Earth to look for the Ninja Steel your dad found." Mick stated. "If Galvanax gets it, he'll be unstoppable. Do you know where it is?"

"I don't...but my brother Aiden might. They never found him." Brody answered. "We need to get off this ship."

"That's going to be easier said than done." Mick told him.

"Not if you have the launch codes for the escape pods." Brody said with a smile, showing Mick a piece of paper. The alien just smirked.

"You...you really did pull a ninja trick on Ripcon didn't you?" He asked.

"Now all we need is that window..."

"Brody, Brody, come in!" A voice said through the Datacom. "The surveillance system is going down in five seconds. You'll have exactly thirty seconds to get off the ship!"

"That'll have to do." Brody answered. "Thanks Spanner."

"My name is WRENCH!" The intern corrected him. "Now get going!"

Brody and Mick took a quick detour, heading for the escape pods. They knew they might not get another chance like this, and they had to make the most of it.

They got to the escape pods and immediately spotted a problem. The escape pods were only designed for evacuations. They were never meant to transport cargo. There was no way all three of them were going to fit in one escape pod with the Nexus Prism. Mick just sighed.

"You go." He told Brody.

"Mick, I..."

"Brody, it's more important that we ensure Galvanax doesn't get that Ninja Steel." Mick told him. "You take the Prism and get off the ship."

"I'm not leaving you behind." Brody put down flatly.

"I'm telling you to go!" Mick responded.

"There's a bigger issue than that." Redbot said, examining the Prism and the escape pod. "The Nexus Prism won't fit through the door!"

"Great, so much for our plan." Mick commented. Just then, they heard an alarm sounding. "Great, and there goes our window! I don't suppose you have a plan B do you?"

"Um...yeah." Brody stated. "But you're not going to like it!"

As the door opened and some Kudabots came rushing in, Brody launched to the attack, taking them down with practiced ease. His training came to him instinctually, and quickly he had one of their weapons in his hand.

"Follow me!" He told them.

"Brody, just for the record...I didn't like your first plan either!" Mick called out as he and Redbot grabbed the Prism and started running.

Back on Earth, Sarah was at the main reception desk, getting her schedule. She thanked the receptionist and walked away, staring at it, trying to figure out where she was meant to be. She didn't even notice another kid walking towards her and accidentally knocked him over. He was a small, scrawny kid with curly hair and glasses that looked like every nerd cliché she had ever seen all rolled into one person.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She rushed out.

"It's alright, I should..."

"No, I totally wasn't paying attention! I'm a complete klutz!" She said, helping him get his things and get off the floor. "Um...I'm Sarah by the way...and I swear, I don't make a habit of knocking over complete strangers for fun!"

"I'm Monty." He answered, shaking her hand. "Are you..."

"Stop bothering the poor girl Monty. Have you done my homework?" Another kid asked, coming over and standing, staring at them. This kid couldn't have been any more different than Monty. He was blonde, stood at least six feet tall, and looked like he was straight out of the pages of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalogue, right down to the practiced pose he pulled, designed to accentuate his build and make the most of his good side. It was no surprise that he pushed this kid around and made him do his homework. He took only a cursory glance at 'his' homework, before thrusting it back into Monty's hands. "I am Victor Vincent!"

Sarah just blinked in disbelief at his bombastic nature and overstated gestures. She hated him already. She smiled politely.

"Oh...Nice to meet you!" She said in response, matching his over-stated gestures and voice to mock him. Victor appeared to either be too full of himself or too dense to get that she was making fun of him.

"You no doubt know my name as the Student Body President!" He said, flashing her a smile. Sarah again just blinked in total shock. That this man was elected President of ANYTHING was completely astounding to her.

"Uh...sorry, no. It's my first day actually!" She answered honestly.

"Well, you do now!" He said, spinning her around and shoving her towards a trophy case. "And if you ever forget it, just in here, because my name is engraved on every last one of them!"

He wasn't kidding! It seemed like he was something of a star in the school, with accomplishments from the archery club to the football championship all proudly on display. It gave Sarah a sense of satisfaction though when she found one trophy that didn't have his name on it.

"Dane Romero?" She asked, pointing to what looked like a Martial Arts trophy.

"D'ahhhhh...almost every one." He responded.

"Victor! I see you've met our new addition Sarah!" A woman announced, thankfully interrupting the awkward scene.

"Why...yes, of course Principal Hastings." Victor said proudly, putting his arm around Sarah, making her skin crawl. "And as Student Body President, I was about to take it upon myself to personally give her a guided tour of the school."

"Well, that is very school spirited of you, but as Student Body President, I was hoping instead you'd stand in for the shop teacher." She told him. "Apparently he found out how close we are to Amber Beach and decided he'd be safer staying in Detroit. I tried to tell him that those monsters are gone but...ugh, he won't budge, and since you're so school spirited, I felt you'd be only too happy to help out."

"Do I LOOK like a teacher?" He asked her.

"No, but you DO look like the Student Body President." She answered, before looking to the trophy case. "And correct me if I'm wrong, but that IS the engineering trophy isn't it?"

"Principal Hastings I..."

"Thank you, I knew I could count on you!" Principal Hastings told him. Victor just groaned and clicked his fingers, summoning Monty like a dog as he left. Sarah breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you for that." She stated.

"Victor's a...special...boy." She told him.

"Is Monty meant to be going with him?" Sarah asked. Principal Hasting just shrugged.

"He's on the honour roll; he's not going to miss anything he can't catch up on." She answered. "Now, how about I give you the tour and then you can go for lunch? I've seen your GPA, I know missing one morning of classes won't do any harm, and I think it's probably best I make sure you know where everything is.

"That would be very helpful!" Sarah answered cheerfully. "Lead the way!"

 **A/N:** OK folks, fair warning. I decided to give you a double helping this time around to kick the story off, but I do have quite a number of commitments and demands on my time, so the updates WILL be slowing down. You can probably count on one update a week at least, but I'll try to make it more if I can. Just thought it was only fair to tell you. Hope you enjoyed the start of the new series!


	3. The Garbage Escape

Alarms were blaring around the ship as Brody made his way through in a frantic dash. Mick and Redbot followed, not really knowing what else to do since Brody hadn't yet seen fit to tell them exactly what "Plan B" for an escape route was.

The doors opened effortlessly and Brody yelled, running straight at a Kudabot, ramming his spear through its chest and running it across the room into the opposite wall. Another two Kudabots were waiting either side of the door, but Redbot grabbed them both and slammed them into each other, before tossing them aside. Brody went to a control console and started to get to work on the controls.

"That security door should have been locked." Mick commented, pointing to the door as they came in. It closed behind them and locked up.

"Thankfully it wasn't." Brody answered, working frantically. "The only other way in here was through the air vents...that's a pretty tight fit."

"Brody, the alarm's been sounded; the whole ship should be on lockdown." Mick reminded him. "I work on the security system daily, I know how it works!"

"Well...just be thankful your system malfunctioned then." Brody told him with a smile. Mick just looked confused, not knowing whether to be happy that they had gotten where Brody intended them to be, or annoyed that he just insinuated that Mick didn't do his job properly! He started to look around, and only then realised where they were.

"Wait...is this...is this the garbage compactor?" Mick asked him. Brody felt something grabbing his leg and looked down seeing one of the Kudabots wasn't quite out. He shook it off his leg, before stomping down hard on its head, obliterating it.

"It sure is." Brody answered. "I think I remember you showing me how this...YES!"

The garbage compactor opened and Mick looked into it, before looking to Brody.

"Brody, you're not seriously thinking...?"

"They have to go into lower orbit to transport competitors to the surface. We'll still be inside the atmosphere." Brody said as he grabbed the Nexus Prism, beginning to struggle with it. "Help me get this in there!"

"Brody..."

"I over-rode the safety protocols, the crusher won't activate until after the exterior hatch opens." Brody continued to explain. "Instead of...you know...crushing us, it'll just push us out! Redbot, help me with this!"

"Brody, we're in LOW ORBIT!" Mick reminded him. "We might not burn, but there's the issue of the fact you won't be able to breathe...oh, and the fact we're about 2,000 kilometres in the air. Last time I checked, humans kind of need to breath and tend not to fair too well with 2,000 kilometre falls!"

"That's what Redbot's for. His rocket boots will be able to keep us from going splat." Brody said as he and Redbot loaded the Nexus Prism into the compactor. "As for breathing...I've been practicing Prana."

"Prana? What the hell is Prana?" Mick asked him.

"It's a ninjitsu breathing technique. It allows a ninja to lower their heart rate and breathing to a level so low they appear dead. It'll allow me to keep my breath until we're low enough to breathe." Brody explained.

"Who taught you to do this?" Mick asked him. "Did your dad teach you?"

"No, I was too young then." Brody told him. "I had to figure it out myself."

"And how long can you...you know...Prana?" Mick asked him.

"With proper training a ninja master can remain in a state of Prana for hours." Brody told him. "So far my record is...seven minutes before I passed out."

"So your plan to escape is based on your ability to practice a breathing technique you've never been taught and can only maintain for seven minutes without passing out, and relying on Redbot's ability to fly carrying both of us." Mick stated, sizing up the situation. "Well, you were right about one thing, I do NOT like this plan!"

They heard an explosion and the door started to buckle. Brody looked to Mick.

"Well it's a bit too late to worry about that now." Brody answered. "So are you going to wait and chance your luck with Galvanax? Or are you getting in the garbage compactor?"

"Fine, but...Redbot, only carry Brody." Mick told them. "Maybe if he only has the weight of one of us to carry, he might just make it without both of you going splat."

"Technically I wouldn't go splat." Redbot chimed in. "I'd make a kind of loud boom I'd imagine."

"Not helping Redbot!" Brody replied as another blast came. Mick just sighed.

"I'll change form, I'll stay in that form until I hit." Mick told him.

"Can you do that?" Brody asked. Mick just sighed again.

"If you're willing to try that ninja thing you just described, I guess I'm going to find out this too!"

Mick climbed inside the garbage compactor, at which he and Brody helped Redbot into the compactor. Brody looked to the door as he heard someone outside.

"Double Blade Doom Slash!" Ripcon called out, casting out another attack which sent the doors spinning across the room. Brody didn't falter though; he just glared straight at the horned creature, defiantly standing his ground. Ripcon took a quick glance at the scene, seeing the Nexus Prism, Mick and Redbot in the compactor. He levelled a blade Brody's way.

"You'd dare try to steal from Galvanax?" He screamed.

"It wasn't his to begin with!" Brody answered. "Hey, you want to see another ninja trick Ripcon?"

Brody pulled out a small, round, black item and showed it to him. He just smiled, before tossing it into Ripcon's face. It broke, splattering something in Ripcon's face. Immediately his eyes and throat started burning and he started to flail about.

Brody ran to the control panel and hit the controls, before sprinting and diving into the garbage compactor as the mechanism started working. Ripcon only barely recovered enough to see Brody disappearing inside as the compressor came down, blocking any chance he had of getting to him before pushing the waste out of the ship.

"Curse you Rat Bait!" Ripcon screamed in anger, realising at last that Brody had amassed much greater skills than he had ever let him realise. "I'll feed you your own entrails for this!"

In the compactor, the compressor pushed the waste out of the ship, shoving them out of the other side. As they started to free-fall, Redbot clung to Brody, periodically firing his rocket boots to try and control the direction of his fall. Mick watched for a moment, ensuring that Redbot's rocket boots were working before turning his attention to his own predicament. He was now in free-fall, and unlike Redbot didn't have the luxury of rockets to slow him down!

"Alright, think Mick, think." He thought to himself. "Um...something soft and spongy?"

He curled up into a ball, before turning into a massive ball of steel and plummeting towards the ground at an incredible rate. Unfortunately, sometimes when he was panicking, his transformations didn't go QUITE how he intended...and free-falling from low orbit was just one such instance!

Back in Summer Cove High, Principal Hastings was just finishing her tour of the school with Sarah. Sarah didn't really expect such one-on-one attention from the Principal, in fact in pretty much every school she had been to, she found the Principal tended to have very little to do with the students at all, but given the reaction, or more accurately the lack of reaction people had to seeing Principal Hastings around the halls, it looked like she was a pretty common sight around the school. Sarah wasn't sure yet if that was going to be a good thing or a bad thing!

"And last, but not least, over here we have the Shop Class." Principal Hastings told her. "It's a little up in the air at the moment. Our last shop teacher retired to go trek the Amazon or something like that, I wasn't really paying attention, and our replacement..."

"He's turned you down." Sarah said, recalling what she had heard her say. "Which is why you have a student running your class."

"So, have you given any thought to what extra-curricular activities you might like to sign up for?" Principal Hastings asked her. "We have a number of options. Chess club, track and field, camping club, archery club, astronomy club..."

"Um...can I just get a pamphlet or something?" Sarah asked, finding her to be a little pushy. "I might have a look..."

"Well, don't take too long, all the clubs fill up pretty quick." She warned Sarah. "You want to build up that impressive CV as much as possible for your college application."

"Um...yeah, sure." Sarah answered as Hastings gave her a few pamphlets. The bell rang, indicating the beginning of the lunch period. Principal Hastings just smiled.

"Well, that was good timing wasn't it?" She asked as she checked her watch. "Now, I have some calls to make. You can go to your afternoon lessons...or just take a half day; it's really up to you. I don't think anyone expects too much on your first day. If you need anything, you know where my office is."

As she left, Sarah just took a deep breath.

"She's a little full-on isn't she?" Victor said, coming over and putting an arm around her. Sarah felt her skin crawling at his touch again. "You don't need to worry, just stick close to me and everything here will be a breeze."

"Yeah...I think I'm going to find somewhere to have lunch now." Sarah told him. Victor saw her board under her arm and grabbed it. "HEY!"

"Oh, I see we share a hobby!" He responded, trying to find a way to connect with her. "I've been known to shred a half-pipe or two, grind some air, catch some rails..."

"I really don't think..." Sarah started to say as he tossed the board down. Not only did she sincerely doubt that he knew how to hoverboard, considering the fact that as far as she knew she had the only one having created it herself, but having known Chase and Allison as long as she had, she could tell from what he said, he clearly knew nothing about skateboarding either.

"Watch a master at work!" He declared, before leaping onto it.

"Victor don't!" She called out, but too late as he leapt onto the board, and his foot hit the accelerator. He rocketed off to a loud scream, flailing in a desperate attempt to keep his balance as he went. She rolled her eyes, running after him, hoping that he wouldn't cripple himself, or more importantly someone else!

Elsewhere, a little way from the school grounds, Hayley and Calvin had opted to leave school for lunch. Kody was sitting in the back, his head over the roof, happily letting the wind whip through his fur. Calvin was in the passenger seat, directing Hayley.

"Just up here, take this path." Calvin told her. "Park up just here. So, what do you think?"

"I think we're kind of far from school." Hayley told him. "Don't you think we could have chosen somewhere closer to have lunch?"

"We could, but that would defeat the point." Calvin told her as he got out, heading around the other side to open the door for Hayley. She got out, accepting his hand as he helped her out, before turning his attention to Kody, who leapt out into his arms, only for Calvin to let him down where he ran off to play. Calvin grabbed a picnic hamper from the truck, and pointed a little way up the path.

"So, I figure under the ribbon tree would be a nice place for our picnic." Calvin told her. The Ribbon Tree was a landmark in Summer Cove, one that had stood for as long as virtually anyone could remember. There were all sorts of stories as to when it had been planted, and who had planted it and why, but the truth was that now...no one really knew. The only thing people knew for a fact was that at some point, someone had tied a ribbon to the tree marking some important event in their life, and as a practice it had caught on. Now, there were literally thousands of ribbons tied or pinned to the tree, marking weddings, funerals, births, engagements, graduations, virtually any kind of special occasion you could name.

"So, are you going to tell me why we're here?" Hayley asked him. Calvin just smiled.

"I thought it was guys who were meant to forget these things." He teased her. "Don't you remember what today is?"

"Oh, I remember alright." She giggled, taking his arm as they approached the tree. "I remember it was three years ago today the sweetest, cutest kid I know managed to stammer long enough to finally ask me out."

"Hey, I thought I was pretty smooth!" Calvin stated. Hayley just looked at him witheringly.

"Calvin, I virtually had to ask YOU out!" Hayley told him. "It was so adorable, I just had to let you finish!"

"Well, on that day, I managed to pluck up the courage to ask my best friend if she wanted to try being something more, and I was lucky enough that she said yes." He told her, taking her hands in his. "Which is why...I thought it might be nice to mark the occasion."

He reached into his pocket, pulling out a ribbon, on which was printed the message, 'Hayley and Calvin' along with the date of their first date. Hayley wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled.

"You, Calvin Maxwell, are the sweetest person I've ever met." Hayley told him. "Now, how about we find somewhere to hang this?"

With that, they both started to climb up the tree, looking for a good spot to tie it off.

Back at the school, Preston was in the middle of his act. He had a pretty decent turnout this time...he actually had three kids turn up! Unfortunately, the new girl he had seen hadn't shown up. He was kind of hoping she would, he was hoping for an opinion from someone that didn't know his act, and hadn't heard all jibes about how lame his tricks were. Instead, he just had three kids who didn't really have anything better to do, and were watching him more out of not having any other form of entertainment.

He was holding the deck of cards up, and showing the deck to the crowd, before closing it up.

"And now, I will magically draw out your card!" He stated, beginning to rub his fingers up the sides. He did so, with some theatrics and slowly edging out a card to enhance the mystique of the trick. *The truth was that it was a Svengali deck, a specially designed deck of cards that instead of being exactly rectangular, were ever so slightly tapered at the sides. What this meant was that if the cards were all facing the same way, as they generally were, there would be no difference to any normal deck, but if one card was reversed, then it would stick out a barely-noticeable amount from the others at the corners, meaning that running his fingers up the card, he would pull out the reversed card. When he had asked an audience member to pick a card, while they were inspecting and memorising their card, he simply took the opportunity to turn the deck around in his hand so that when they put it back, it would be reversed and he could draw out easily the chosen card.

"And here is your card, the three of clubs!" Preston stated, garnering a polite applause from the audience. They really weren't too impressed, they didn't care about the trick or how it was done. They had seen multiple variations on card tricks, so much so that they rarely impressed anymore. In order to make them stand out, he'd need to find some kind of gimmick. He'd once seen David Blaine do a trick where after someone picked a card, he'd throw the deck at a car window, after which the chosen card would appear on the INSIDE of the car window! He still had no idea how he did that, and he was still searching for his gimmick. He looked to his unimpressed audience and realised he was going to have to pull out the big guns.

"Now, for your amazement, the Amazing Presto Chango will now transform himself...Into a DRAGON!" He stated, activating a smoke bomb. When the smoke cleared, he was wearing a dragon costume. There was more polite applause, but then he heard a commotion.

"I CAN'T CONTROL THIS THING!" Victor screamed as he came barrelling towards Preston. The young magician only just pulled back, at which Victor caught him, ripping off the costume, leaving Preston standing in his underwear! This seemed to generate a lot more appreciation than any of Preston's actual tricks, but he was too busy trying to cover up to appreciate this. Victor meanwhile, was continuing on his path of destruction, only now he was unable to see where he was going, which only made the situation worse!

"Sorry!" Sarah called out as she and Monty ran past after Victor. "I'll help clean up, I promise!"

Victor fortunately didn't go too much further. Being unable to see where he was going, he hit a dumpster and tumbled inside. He was just starting to try and extract himself when Sarah, Monty and Preston showed up. Preston was just finishing putting on his suit, re-attaching the Velcro fastenings which allowed his quick change.

"Thanks alit Victor, you just ruined my show!" Preston snapped angrily.

"Ruined your show?" Victor asked sceptically. He looked to Sarah. "I think your board needs a few adjustments."

"I think your BRAIN needs a few adjustments!" Sarah responded. "I tried to warn you not to ride it!"

"I've ridden..."

"I MADE this board! It's the only one there is!" Sarah interrupted him. "You CAN'T have ridden one like it! You also totally ruined this guy's show! You owe him an apology!"

"Apology?" Victor scoffed.

"Believe me, this would be the first time anyone's actually enjoyed one of Preston's shows." Monty said, backing up Victor as he helped him out. Sarah just groaned out loud. It didn't surprise her that Monty would take his side.

"Come on Monty." Victor stated. "Let's get out of here before she creates something else that tries to kill me!"

"Don't think it's not tempting!" Sarah yelled as they left. She looked to Preston apologetically. "I am SO sorry about missing your show. I totally wanted to come, but Mr. More-Peroxide-Than-Braincells-In-His-Head took my hoverboard for a joyride!"

"It's alright." Preston sighed. "He's kind of right. People just don't like..."

Just then, there was a loud bang, and everyone looked up to see what it was. They could see large objects streaking from the sky down towards the Earth. Preston looked nervous, but Sarah's face just split into a bright smile.

"What...what's that?" Preston asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out!" Sarah said, clipping on her helmet and throwing down her board.

"Sarah, that stuff is coming down from...from space!" Preston stated. "It might be dangerous! It might be radioactive! It might be alien!"

"That would be SO AWESOME!" She said, her heart racing. She leapt onto her board, and while Preston was looking around at his scattered tricks, thinking he should stay and clear them up, he saw Sarah preparing to rush out into whatever faced her out there. He couldn't let her go on her own.

"Does that thing carry passengers?" He asked, already feeling like he'd regret this decision. Sarah just smiled and gestured behind her.

"Hold on tight Magic Boy!" She told him. Preston felt a little uncomfortable about touching someone he had barely met, but as soon as Sarah hit the accelerator and the board started moving, he was quickly reaching right around her, grabbing her around the waist like his life depended on it as she raced off, not even knowing what she was racing into.

As they weaved between students, racing off into the woods, Sarah could only think about what Preston had said. It could be alien. She had seen aliens before, and it had been one of the greatest adventures of her life. While it was entirely possible that it was something entirely unrelated or totally benign like an aging satellite finally falling from orbit, a part of her hoped that this would be the beginning of a new chapter for her.

 **A/N:** OK, not being a magician, or even to the best of my knowledge knowing anyone in the Magic Circle who can teach me these tricks, I won't always be able to do this, but the passage marked with a * is an actual thing! I have seen and used a Svengali deck. It's a pretty effective and simple trick. If I can, I might just explain some of Preston's other tricks, but in general, I might just leave it up to the imagination.


	4. Sarah's Chance

On the road back to school, Calvin was getting a little agitated. He and Hayley had headed out to the Ribbon Tree to have lunch and celebrate their anniversary, but they had stayed a little longer than they had intended. They'd managed to lose track of time a little once they had tied their ribbon to the tree, but it really hadn't helped when Kody had started chasing a squirrel, forcing them to go and find him. Calvin was drumming his fingers nervously on the dash.

"Can't you go a little faster?" He asked her. Hayley just glared at him.

"Cal, there are speed limits you know." She reminded him.

"I know, but...no one's around." Calvin answered. "Afternoon classes start pretty soon, and we don't want to be late."

"You know Calvin, you don't get to have a personal chauffeur AND complain about how they drive." Hayley responded. Calvin just started looking a little nervous. He'd had virtually perfect attendance his whole life. He'd only missed classes once in his life when he'd been taken into hospital with appendicitis. He didn't like the thought of having a tardy slip to take home to his parents. Hayley just groaned and checked to make sure no cops were around, before relenting and putting down the accelerator a little harder. Unfortunately not long after she did, there was a loud bang, and smoke started billowing out from under the hood.

"What...what just happened?" Hayley asked.

"Nitro!" Calvin called out. "No, no, no, no! This isn't good, pull over!"

"What do you think I'm doing? I can't see through smoke Calvin!" She reprimanded him as she pulled slowly to the side of the road and turned off the engine. Calvin got out and went to the hood, opening it up and starting to choke on the smoke, waving it away to try and see what it was doing. His attention was ripped away though as with a loud crash a metal sphere slammed into the ground a little way off, sending tarmac flying. Soon more debris started to hit.

"Calvin, get in!" Hayley screamed at him.

"But..."

"Calvin, it's a truck, it can be repaired!" She yelled at her boyfriend, grabbing him and dragging him into the cab. They both sheltered in each other's arms as debris rained down from the skies, both hoping and praying that none of it would hit them.

In the forest on the outskirts of the city, Brody was just coming to. He had entered a Prana state while they were free-falling, and held it as long as he could, but somewhere on the descent he had to have passed out. He still hadn't mastered it, and so he didn't know too much about what happened when they fell. He pulled himself to his knees as he tried to piece together what had happened.

"Mick?" He asked. "Redbot?"

He started to look around, hoping to find signs of his friends. He couldn't see much debris, so he assumed that Redbot had cleared the rest of the debris to prevent them being hit by it. Redbot's rocket boots weren't ever designed for long flights, more like assisted jumping. He could only fire them for short periods and didn't have much fuel in reserve for them, meaning he could only fire them in short bursts to direct them and try to slow their descent as much as possible. Since Brody had survived the fall, Redbot had to have carried him as he promised, and so he knew he had to be nearby.

"Master Brody, I require assistance!" He heard Redbot's voice calling out. He went over, finding Redbot imbedded in the ground a little way off. He assumed Redbot had tossed him into soft foliage before impact, but paid the heavy price of taking the harder landing himself. Brody grabbed him, starting to help right him.

"Redbot, are you OK buddy?" Brody asked him.

"You are, and that's what matters." Redbot answered.

"Redbot, can you...?"

"Rebooting." Redbot said, before slumping to the ground, completely inert.

"Redbot, this isn't a good time for a nap!" Brody yelled at him. "REDBOT!"

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do. Redbot had taken a pretty hard impact and he was sure he had to have damaged some systems. He'd need a while to reboot his primary systems. It would be a while until he came back online, so Brody took the time to size up his situation. He was now in some woods, he didn't know exactly where. He was young when he was taken but even then he knew the world was a big place. Looking around, he couldn't see any signs of Mick. That was when he remembered Mick had taken the free-fall himself. He had to have fallen with the rest of the debris, meaning they had now been separated.

He checked his wrist, looking to his Datacomm. It was a device worn by everyone that worked on the maintenance crew of the Warrior Dome. It was used primarily for communicating between parts of the ship, but it had other functions too, namely being connected to the ship's mainframe, allowing the prisoners to access information vital to their work. He turned it on, and seemed thankful that it seemed to be working.

"Mick, can you read me?" Brody asked. "Mick?"

He didn't get an answer, that was worrying. He didn't know if that meant that Mick's Datacomm was damaged, if Mick had been hurt or recaptured or...it was an option, one that Brody didn't like to think about, but he couldn't rule out as a possibility that Mick hadn't survived the fall. He started to look around to see if there was anything useful in the wreckage. It was junk, stuff that was no longer considered worth keeping on the ship, but Brody knew from long ago that virtually anything with an inventive mind could be a valuable tool or weapon. He smile as he saw something glowing a little way off. The Nexus Prism had come down only a few feet from where he had!

"Galvanax is not going to be happy that you're missing!" Brody said with a satisfied grin. "Now, I just need to hide you until I figure out what to do."

"Too late!" He heard someone shrieking. It was Korvaka, the latest victor of Galaxy Warriors. He seemed to appear from nowhere and rushed at Brody, kicking him away. Brody tumbled away as Korvaka pulled out his blade. "You've taken something that doesn't belong to you! Now I get to bring it back!"

"How about I put you back in the infirmary instead?" Brody replied as he threw some dirt into Korvaka's face, before grabbing the nearest solid object to hand and swinging it for him with all the strength he could.

Back on the road a little way from town, Calvin and Hayley finally started to release each other as the sounds of falling debris stopped.

"I...I think it's stopped." Hayley said.

"I'll see if I can fix the truck." Calvin said as he disentangled himself from her and got out of the truck. They were both relieved to see that the debris had missed the truck completely. Kody had gotten out and already seemed to be sniffing around, looking a little wary.

"What is all this stuff?" Hayley asked as Calvin got to work on the truck. "It doesn't look like parts from an aeroplane...maybe they're parts of a satellite?"

"They do say that satellites fall from orbit all the time." Calvin agreed, looking around. "I've never actually SEEN it happen, but I've heard about it."

"Just concentrate on patching Nitro up so we can get out of here." Hayley told him. "I'll start clearing the road, make sure we can get back once you've finished."

She noticed Kody hanging around a large metal sphere that had hit the road, damaging it. She also saw some goop around a lot of the parts that she really didn't like the look of. She knew enough about chemistry to know that it was wise to stay away from unfamiliar chemicals.

"Kody, come away from there." She said as her dog nudged the metal sphere. "Kody, leave it alone!"

The dog started barking at the metal sphere, at which Hayley just slapped her leg repeatedly.

"Kody, leave it alone!" She called to the dog, but he seemed to be ignoring her. Kody always did as he was told, unless he somehow thought that something was a threat to his owner. Suddenly, she saw the metal sphere start to shift, and change form. Calvin was quickly at her side holding her, grabbing a steel bar from the wreckage as it changed shape. Before long, it seemed to take the form of a wild-haired man, who was clutching his hands to his ears as he curled into a ball defensively.

"Call him off, call him off!" Mick begged them. Hayley whistled to her loyal dog, who ran back to her, but quickly took up position in her defence, growling at the stranger. Mick started to get up. "Thank you. You know, that thing can really give someone quite a scare! You should be careful!"

"Um...who or...what are you?" Calvin asked, unable to really think of a good answer to the assertions of a man who just moments ago had been a ball of steel that a dog was threatening. Mick waved enthusiastically.

"Um...Hi, I'm Mick." He told them. "Head mechanic of the Warrior Dome!"

Calvin and Hayley looked blankly at him.

"You know, where they film Galaxy Warriors? THE number one show in the universe?"

"Um...OK?" Calvin asked. He then started to put some pieces together. This man seemed to have fallen from the sky as a ball of steel, and then changed into a person, things that were not humanly possible. He was also talking about a show broadcasting to the universe. "Wait...are you saying you're an alien?"

"Well, interesting thing, define alien. Alien just means different, and so to me, YOU'RE alien." Mick stated. They both just seemed to get defensive as he started to walk towards them. With Kody growling in warning, Mick just took the hint and stopped moving. "OK, we've got off on the wrong foot. I seem to have been separated from my friend Brody and..."

Mick paused as he thought of something.

"He's from here! He's from Earth! You know, BRODY!" He said. Calvin just looked totally bemused by this whole conversation.

"Um...who's Brody?" He asked.

"Oh come on, he's from here!" Mick reminded them. "You must know him! He's from Earth!"

"So are about seven billion other people!" Hayley answered. Mick suddenly realised his error.

"Um...yes...that's a good point." He answered. "You ever notice how people do that? They hear your from somewhere and automatically assume you know every other person from there and...wait, I have an idea."

Mick got onto his Datacomm and hit the communications link.

"Brody, this is Mick, come in." He stated. "Brody? Damn, it looks like this thing was broken in the fall."

"The fall from...your spaceship?" Calvin asked.

"Not exactly MY spaceship, but yes." Mick told them. "Listen, I'm in a little trouble here, I need to be able to fix this thing to find my friend Brody, can you take me somewhere I can fix it?"

"We can't take anyone anywhere right now." Hayley told him. "The truck broke down."

"Is that an internal combustion engine?" Mick asked, pushing past both of them to look inside the hood. "Where I come from, we give these things to kids to play with. I can have this thing fixed up in a jiffy!"

"Hey, that's my..."

"Calvin!" Hayley said, pulling him away.

"Hayley, he's messing with Nitro!" Calvin told her.

"Yes, but he seems to know what he's doing!" She told him. "Not to mention we don't seem to have much in the way of parts out here."

"Oh, we have parts." Mick told her, picking up a piece of debris from the road. He considered it for a moment, before turning one of his hands into an angle-grinder and starting to grind it down in size for use.

"You're going to put that thing in my...my...NITRO!" Calvin said, starting to freak out. Hayley just grabbed her boyfriend.

"Calvin, try to think about this. We're miles from town, and if we call AAA we'll be waiting at LEAST an hour!" Hayley told him. She looked to Mick. "Um...listen...Mick was it?"

"Yeah?" He asked.

"If we promise to take you somewhere you can fix your wrist thing, can you fix this?" She asked him.

"Sure!" Mick told her, beginning to pull engine parts out of the truck. Calvin looked like he was ready to explode watching Mick manhandle his beloved Nitro. "Could you two clear the road? Once I'm finished here, we'll need the road clear."

"You...you got it Mick." Hayley said, grabbing Calvin who could only point and mouth words, unable to speak as Mick started to tinker with his engine.

Back in the woods, Brody's battle with Korvaka was not going well at all. After surprising him at the beginning, the alien took control of the fight, throwing him around with rather dismissive ease.

Even injured, Korvaka seemed to be a tough opponent. No matter what Brody tried, he seemed to have an answer for pretty much everything Brody knew. His skills, while impressive, were no match for a creature powerful enough to compete on the Warrior Dome.

As he hit the ground again, Brody looked to his Datacomm. In the absence of an answer, he did what he instinctively always did, look for a tool to help him.

"Computer." He called out.

"Ready!" It responded. The Datacomms provided a direct link for the slaves to the ship's computer, allowing them to access information they would need to perform their duties. It was a stroke of luck that the link was still up and running.

"Computer, how do I defeat Korvaka?" Brody asked it.

"You cannot defeat him on your own." The computer said rather anti-climactically. "No human has the power to defeat him."

"Then...give me options!" Brody said as he rolled to avoid one of his attacks.

"Options most likely to result in survival. Find a source of power. Find allies with more power. Surrender. Run. Of all these options, the option most likely to result in survival is surrender."

"That is NOT an option!" Brody said, trying desperately to keep one step ahead of the alien. He knew it was right, there was no way he could defeat Korvaka on his own.

"Hey ugly!" He heard someone shouting. Before he, or Korvaka knew what was happening, someone crashed straight into him at high speed. Two other humans, a guy in a suit and a girl wearing pink landed on the ground in a crumpled heap, while Korvaka was knocked back about thirty feet. He clutched at his side, where his injury had re-opened because of the impact.

"See, I told you that wasn't a guy in a costume!" Sarah said to Preston as they got up. She couldn't believe that a monster would show up here in Summer Cove. She was sure that once the threat ended in Amber Beach, her days of seeing monsters were over, but she had seen enough to know a monster when she saw one.

"What in the world is it?" Preston asked her.

"I don't think it's from this world!" She replied. She remembered that when Sledge had been destroyed, there were still other monsters aboard his ship. She could only wonder if some of them had perhaps opted not to leave Earth with the others. Most of them didn't really have a whole lot to go home for having been prisoners for millions of years.

"Thanks, you guys really saved my skin!" Brody stated, coming to their side.

"Sure, but who are you and why is that thing chasing you?" Sarah asked him. Brody was about to answer, but his attention was drawn to the Nexus Prism.

"Both excellent questions, but..." His words tailed off as he went to the Nexus Prism. Three of the Power Stars were glowing, the Red, Blue and Pink Stars. On them, they depicted images of helmets.

"What are those things?" Sarah asked him.

"They're called the Ninja Power Stars." Brody stated. "They're glowing, like the Nexus Star did ten years ago before my dad pulled it out!"

Brody reached his hand inside, taking the Red Power Star. He stared at it in disbelief.

"I...I don't believe it! It's chosen me!" He gasped. "It's chosen me to give its power!"

"Chosen...power...?" Sarah asked, thinking this all sounded eerily familiar. A huge grin split her face as she reached in, plucking out the Pink Power Star. The second she touched it, she could feel power racing through her, filling her and energising her. "No, FREAKING WAY!"

"What...what does all this mean?" Preston asked as he took the Blue Ninja Power Star from the Nexus Prism.

"I guess it's better to show you than to explain." Brody answered. "Do what I do!"

A star-shaped device appeared in his left hand, at which he clicked his Ninja Power Star into the centre of it. Sarah and Preston both found similar devices appearing in their hands.

"Whoa, it's like magic!" Preston exclaimed.

"Oh my God, Oh my God, I can't believe it, this is really happening!" Sarah rushed out.

Korvaka let out a huge cry and fired a blast their way. All three teenagers held up their morphers to block the blast. Korvaka just steadied himself on his feet.

"Ha, they couldn't have survived that!" He said, but quickly realised he had spoken a little too soon. As the smoke cleared, three Power Rangers were standing before him. Brody, Preston and Sarah all inspected their new suits with awe.

"YES!" She screamed, becoming giddy with delight at her newfound power. After her adventures in Amber Beach, after watching her friends do amazing things and wishing that she could do more to help them, it seemed like now she was finally her chance to be the superhero!


	5. The Three Ninjas

Calvin kept a close eye on Mick as he and Hayley cleared debris from the road. Hayley could see the way he was staring at him and came over.

"You don't need to be jealous." Hayley told him. "She's still your girl, even if he is touching her."

"It's not that Hayley." Calvin said quietly. "We don't even know this guy. We have no idea what he's doing to Nitro. He could be...I don't know...sabotaging it or something."

"Calvin, he's stranded out here too." Hayley reminded him. "If anything he's in a worse position than us. He has no idea where he is on this planet. Worst case scenario if we start walking we'll be home in a couple of hours. It really doesn't make a whole lot of sense for him to do anything to sabotage your truck."

"Well we don't even know what he's doing here in the first place." Calvin reminded her.

"I don't know how it works on your planet, but where I come from its considered rude to talk about someone while they're standing nearby without including them in the conversation." Mick piped up, causing both of them to jump. He closed over the hood of the truck.

"You heard us?" Hayley asked him.

"Oh, I have about average hearing and you were standing only a short distance away. You really don't talk as quietly as you think." Mick told them. "If you want to know something you could always just ask, but I'd recommend we start getting somewhere safe now. Your engine's finished by the way, so we might want to...you know..." He clicked his tongue and gestured to the road.

"Not so fast, we're not taking you anywhere until we know more about you." Calvin stated. Mick just folded his arms and leant against Nitro.

"Well, I guess things DO work differently on your planet. I was under the impression when people make a deal they kept to it. I've fixed your engine like I promised." Mick stated.

"He has a point Calvin." Hayley conceded.

"Wait, we haven't tried the engine, we don't know if he's done anything other than mess it up!" Calvin told her.

"Um...your girlfriend already pointed out, that really wouldn't make a whole lot of sense now would it? It doesn't help me at all." Mick answered. He just sighed. "Alright, what do you want to know?"

"You said you jumped out of a spaceship." Calvin began.

"Well, jumped would imply I had much choice in the matter, I'd say more plummeted from, but...yeah, you could say that." Mick answered.

"Why would anyone do that?" Hayley asked, looking skyward. She couldn't see any signs of a ship, and she was sure there'd be a lot more wreckage if the ship crashed. That would mean he had to have jumped out of the ship while it was well above cloud cover without a parachute! She couldn't imagine what would make someone desperate enough to try something like that.

"I was escaping monsters." Mick stated flatly. "And since they're probably already on their way, I'd really like to be on my way so..." He clicked his tongue and gestured to the road again.

"Alien monsters?" Hayley asked him. He just nodded.

"Yeah!" Mick said, nodding his head.

"What kind of monsters?" Calvin asked.

"Oh, big...scary...ugly...kind of like...THAT!" He answered, panicking and pointing behind them. Calvin and Hayley both turned around, seeing a bunch of Kudabots appearing. Calvin grabbed a metal bar, while Hayley grabbed a large pipe.

"Maybe we can...scare them off?" Calvin asked, sounding about as convinced with this plan as Hayley was. The creatures coming towards them were armed with some kind of spears, and looked a lot more like an army than just a couple of kids arming themselves with whatever crap they could find lying around!

"Hey, if you want to get to him you...um...have to go through us!" Hayley called out, trying to sound braver than she actually was. They felt a little prod on the shoulder and turned to see Mick.

"Uh...yeah, you're trying to reason with robots who are literally programmed to fight." Mick told them. "Now if one of you gives me the keys, I can crank up this...Nitro...and get us the hell out of here!"

"Hey, no one drives Nitro but Hayley!" Calvin warned him. Just then, one of the Kudabots fired a blast their way, narrowly missing them.

"That would be your warning shot." Mick told them. "They're only programmed to give one."

"Here, take them!" Hayley said, handing Mick the keys. As Mick ran off to start up the truck, Hayley and Calvin ran for the Kudabots, knowing that by now any hope of resolving this without a fight had long since past.

Mick dove into the truck, fumbling with the keys and started to crank the engine. He caught only glimpses of the fight between periodically checking the display and operating the choke to try and get Nitro running. These two humans appeared to be doing surprisingly well! They could really have used some proper weapons, but they were at least managing to provide a distraction.

Calvin and Hayely quickly realised that the scrap they picked up wasn't going to cut it, but having knocked one of the robots over, Calvin managed to get one of their spears. He thrust it out, ramming it right through one of the other Kudabots with ease. He gulped.

"Hayley, these things work a lot better!" He told her, prompting his girlfriend to grab another. They started swinging wildly, smashing down another couple, but since there were at least ten more, they quickly figured out that staying in this fight was not the best plan. Mick finally managed to turn over the engine, much to their relief.

"Guys, I think it's time we were going!" Mick called to them, sliding over. Hayley got in the driver's seat and put her foot down, roaring away as Calvin threw himself into the back with Kody. They ran straight over a couple of the Kudabots, while the others rebounded off the hood, scattering onto the ground as they raced away.

"That was WAY too close!" Calvin commented. "Hayley..."

"Hey, a speeding ticket is the least of our worries; I just want to get the hell out of here!" Hayley responded. "I just hope Mick's repairs to your truck can get us back to shop class!"

Mick looked between Hayley and Calvin for a moment.

"So if this is YOUR truck, why is SHE driving it?" Mick asked. Hayley and Calvin just glared at him. "OK, minding my own business."

Back in the woods, Sarah, Preston and Brody were battling with Korvaka, only now the battle didn't seem quite so one-sided. As she swept Korvaka's blade aside and caught him across the chest in a move Riley had showed her once, she squealed in delight.

"This...this is incredible! I feel as strong as...as ten freight trains!" She screamed.

"This is totally WILD!" Preston agreed, leaping through the air and kicking Korvaka a good four or five times before hitting the ground. He did train, and was reasonably fit, since many of the illusions he had high hopes of performing, especially the escapology ones required a lot of fitness and flexibility, he knew this was way beyond what he should be able to do. "This is like magic!"

"Alright guys, it's time to finish this off." Brody told them, at which a blaster appeared in his hand.

Sarah and Preston both pulled out blasters too, joining Brody in levelling the blasters at Korvaka.

"Final STRIKE!" They called out, opening fire. They all watched as he fell to the ground and exploded.

"Whoo, yeah, Monster Extinc...um..." Sarah said, before looking to Brody and Preston who were staring at her. "It's...it's gone!"

"Show's over, Ninjas win!" Brody said, putting his weapons away. Sarah hung back to think about it for a moment as they went to inspect the wreckage, making sure Korvaka was really gone.

"You know...I think I could get used to that." Sarah remarked to herself. "Sorry Tyler."

"That was intense! That was insane! Please tell me I'm dreaming!" Preston rambled.

"Sorry, I'm afraid not." Brody told him. "Thanks for the help by the way."

"This is...this is impossible, I can't...I can't be a Power Ranger!" Preston continued to ramble. "Surely they'd pick like...soldiers or cops or stuff like that right?"

"Um..." Sarah was about to answer, before stopping herself. She needed to think for a moment. "...Didn't the Corsairs become Rangers in High School?"

"Alright, Korvaka's gone and it looks like he's not getting a second shot." Brody stated. "I guess he wasn't good for the cameras."

"Cameras?" Sarah asked.

"I'll explain later." Brody told her. "Right now we have to hide..."

Before he could finish, the Ninja Nexus Prism flew off into the distance. They all watched it go, knowing there was no way any of them would be able to catch it, not even with Sarah's hoverboard.

"Where's it going?" Preston asked.

"If I was to hazard a guess, I'd say to find three more Rangers." Sarah surmised. There were three more stars."

Just then, Redbot sat up, shaking his head.

"All systems back online!" He declared. Sarah started to run for him only for Brody to snatch her off her feet and hold her. Preston was already reaching for his Power Star.

"Guys, wait, that's Redbot, he's our friend!" Brody told them. "He's not like Korvaka."

"He's your friend." Sarah asked. Brody nodded his head and released her.

"Where's the Nexus Prism?" Redbot asked him.

"It's gone." Brody told him. "We managed to get three of the Power Stars out, but it flew away."

"You got Power Stars out?" Redbot asked. "Sizzling circuits! That's great!"

"What's not great is we still have to stop Galvanax from getting the Ninja Steel." Brody told him.

"Wait, hold on a minute...what's Ninja Steel?" Preston asked. Brody looked to the two young people standing before him.

"I'm not sure I should tell you." He answered. "It's not your fight..."

"Excuse me, I'm sorry but according to the big star-shaped thing, this just became our fight!" Sarah said in a forceful manner. She had no idea about ninja stuff, or the Nexus Prism or the stars...but she DID know enough from her time watching her friends that Rangers had a team for a reason. "Now, what's this about Ninja Steel?"

Back at the school, Hayley was just pulling Nitro into the rear entrance, bringing it into the yard behind Shop Class. Hayley, Calvin and Mick disembarked, while Kody just found a quiet corner to curl up and take a nap.

"This is Shop Class." Hayley explained, panning her hands around. "This is where we fix things, and where we LEARN to fix things. If there's anywhere you'll get what you need to fix your wrist thingy, you'll find it here."

"We're SO late." Calvin said, looking a little worried. "We've almost missed the whole afternoon!"

"Calvin, relax, we both had shop class after lunch anyway. We don't even have a teacher yet! No teacher means no one to take attendance!" Hayley reminded him. "They usually let you stay late to work on Nitro anyway. If we just wait until final bell, no one will interrupt us."

"Mick, just...try to blend in." Calvin told him. Mick saw a stack of tyres.

"I know, I'll turn myself into a tyre!" He said, preparing to do so. Hayley just grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Mick, you're in a garage and you're wearing coveralls." Hayley reminded him. "Just try not to act too strangely and no one will even notice."

As they headed inside, Mick scratched his head as he thought about this plan.

"Don't act strangely?" He asked. "You DO know I'm an alien right?"

Back in the forest, Sarah, Preston, Redbot and Brody were all sitting around as Brody told them the tale, explaining everything. How he had been kidnapped by Galvanax, how he had been a slave on board the Warrior Dome, how his brother had been instructed to hide the Ninja Steel, everything. As he finished, both Preston and Sarah stared at him.

"I am SO going to burn my tablet when I go home." Sarah muttered under her breath as she heard Brody's story. She had discovered the show Galaxy Warriors by accident, but she had always assumed it was a science fiction show or an intergalactic version of professional wrestling. To hear that for months she had been watching real living creatures slaughter each other in the name of entertainment made her feel ill to her stomach.

"So, ten years ago, your dad had the Ninja Steel in your workshop, and now these monsters are after it?" Preston quizzed the new Red Ranger.

"That's right, but I plan to get it first." Brody responded, checking his Datacomm. "I still can't reach Mick. I really hope he's OK."

"So...what now?" Sarah asked Brody. Brody just looked to them. "Where do we go now?"

"Simple, to my old house." Brody told them. "That's where the Ninja Steel is. I can't wait to see my brother Aiden again!"

"OK, that's a plan but...where's your house?" Preston asked him. "The world is kind of a big place."

Brody had to think about that one. He had only been seven years old when he lived on the farm.

"I don't know. My dad left the Ninja Academy when I was born, he moved out to a farm to raise us in peace." He told them. "My mom died when we were young. He became a bit of a recluse after that. We hardly ever left the farm."

"Well, can you narrow it down at least?" Sarah asked him. "Do you even remember the name of a town?"

"It was so long ago, I can..." He paused for a moment, before sitting cross-legged on the ground. He started to meditate.

"What are you doing?" Preston asked him.

"He's meditating." Redbot told him. "He's trying to clear his thoughts, to arrange his memories so that he can recall..."

"It's in a place called...Millport." Brody said, opening his eyes. "It was a little place called..."

"MILLPORT!" Sarah shrieked. "I know where that is!"

"You do?" Both Preston and Brody said, looking to her. Sarah just nodded her head frantically.

"My friends Matt and Riley come from there! It's just outside of the city limits!" She told them.

"It is?" Brody asked. Sarah just nodded, before checking her surroundings.

"You wouldn't happen to know which way's North would you?" She asked Redbot.

"That way." He answered, pointing. Sarah threw down her hoverboard.

"Then if we head this way, it should only take us about half an hour." She told them. "Redbot, do you still have fuel in your rocket boots?"

"Not much, but it should be enough for a short flight." He told her.

"Then follow me!" She said. "Get on Magic Boy!"

Preston got on her hoverboard behind her and held on tight as Sarah shot off through the woods. Brody climbed onto Redbot's back as his companion took off. As much as he was reluctant to drag others into his fight, he had to admit, so far it had worked out well. He didn't know how much further behind he'd be if he hadn't run into Preston and Sarah.

Back at the school, Hayley and Calvin had indeed managed to slip into class without anyone noticing, or more accurately caring that they had been absent for most of the afternoon. Since Victor was covering, and he didn't care much for anyone or anything other than himself, he hadn't bothered to take a roll call. Most likely if he hadn't needed to be there to work on his own project, he probably would have just gone home himself.

They hung around, performing enough busy work to make it look like they were actually there to learn. Calvin was working on a bike that he was constructing completely from scrap for his project, but really they were just trying to kill time until the others went home so that Mick could work on his Datacomm without anyone paying too much attention.

Mick wandered around the class in amazement, looking at everything on display. It was like going to a toy shop for him. He had worked with some of the highest grade technology in several solar systems, so the basic internal combustion engine and crude electronics of Earth were quite literally the kind of thing given to children in his home system to play with. Even before his time on the Warrior Dome.

While the rest of his sector was in a state of virtually perpetual warfare, Mick's people tended to be left alone by virtue of their technological skills meaning they were far too useful to all the warring factions as arms dealers and so there was an unofficial no-touch policy on his people. It was never wise to alienate the ones that sold weapons in a system where people literally fought for their lives from the moment they were born to the moment they died.

He was intrigued and delighted to see all the quaint little tools and devices being built here. It was like taking a trip into his childhood. Most of what he saw would sell for a fortune as antiques and curios back home. He didn't even notice as Principal Hastings came in to make sure Victor was doing his 'job'.

"You there!" She called out. Mick looked around to see who she was addressing as she pointed at him, before realising it was him. She approached him extending a hand. "You must be our new shop teacher! I'm Principal Hastings, very nice to meet you!"

Mick wasn't at all familiar with this gesture. No one really cared to give the slaves on the Warrior Dome any kind of regard, much less social pleasantries. He took her hand, shaking it back and forth, before releasing it and waving.

"Hi, I'm Mick!" He told her. She just sighed and looked to her hand, before wiping it off on a rag. Mick didn't even realise he hadn't cleaned up since fixing Calvin's truck. Calvin and Hayley noticed this and immediately started to cringe. This was exactly the last thing they needed. They were trying to come up with a good story, but in her usual manner, Hastings was far too focused on getting things done quickly to pay much attention.

"Now, I was very disappointed to hear you had turned us down, but who could blame you? I wouldn't want to spend all day in this grease pit." She stated. Mick just looked utterly puzzled by this. Why WOULDN'T anyone want to spend all day here? Free access to all the retro tools and parts he could ever want? Why would he ever want to leave? "But...I suspect you're right at home!"

Mick just smiled and nodded. He had learned long ago that giving the wrong answer as a slave was only an invitation to a severe beating at best. This woman who had only just met him seemed to take that as answer enough to satisfy her.

"I'm glad you changed your mind. Just drop off your paperwork with the office by the end of the week." She told him. "Welcome aboard! Victor! You're no longer in charge!"

With that, she left. Mick just flicked a thumb in the direction of the door.

"She thinks I'm your teacher?" He asked.

"Well...for now that might be for the best." Calvin stated. "Adults hanging around schools for no reason tend to get a lot of attention from the authorities here."

"Besides, you never actually SAID you were our teacher so...technically you're not lying." Hayley pointed out. "You're just...not correcting her mistake."

"That is...an excellent way of looking at it!" Mick agreed. "Now if you'll excuse me, there's a kid over there who has NO idea how to use a soldering iron!"

"This is a bad idea isn't it?" Calvin asked. Hayley just sighed.

"Yup, definitely a bad idea." She agreed. "But...we do owe him for getting Nitro working."

"We're totally getting expelled if anyone figures this out right?" Calvin asked her.

"Bringing a stranger into the school without any kind of security clearance?" Hayley asked him. "Pretty much!"

"Oh...just checking." Calvin answered as they went back to work on the bike, hoping that none of the other students would ask too many questions about the mysterious new arrival.


	6. The Abandoned Romero Place

Sarah, Preston, Redbot and Brody arrived in Millport, right outside Brody's old home. She had managed to take them as far as Millport before they got a little lost. Being a farming community, the idea of neighbours was a little subjective, with some farms having the next nearest neighbour being a mile or so away. Brody recognised the odd landmark, but in general there wasn't really much to go on.

They had ended up just patrolling around, looking for anything more familiar, when eventually Brody called out to them.

"This is it!" He yelled excitedly, pointing to one side. Sarah and Preston came up alongside as Redbot and Brody landed by the path up to an old farmhouse. Brody was already running inside.

"What is it?" Preston asked as Sarah kicked up her hoverboard, staring at the mailbox. It was a little rusty, but she could still see a name written on it.

"Romero." She said, furrowing her brows. "That name sounds familiar."

"Well...maybe you're thinking of GEORGE Romero?" Preston asked. Sarah just glared at him.

"Preston, somehow I don't think the Godfather of the modern zombie genre lived here." She said, looking around. "Though...looking at this place..."

The whole place did look like Old Father Time had taken a baseball bat to it. The building looked like it hadn't been painted in years. The equipment out in the yard was rusted and falling apart. Most of the land was overgrown, and looked like it hadn't been worked in years, but according to Brody, his father hadn't actually been much of a farmer anyway. He had said he only came here for the peace and quiet, and it looked like he had got it. Not only had a whole family disappeared ten years ago with virtually no one noticing, it seemed no one had noticed a literal alien invasion on this very spot.

"It doesn't look like anyone's been here in years." Preston commented.

"Matt told me there was an abandoned farm out here, I just never put the pieces together." Sarah stated. Just then, they heard some crashing and banging. It seemed like Brody had gone inside to start searching.

"Probably just as well." Preston answered. "I guess it would be a little difficult to explain Redbot."

"What about me?" Redbot asked. Sarah sucked her teeth.

"The thing is Redbot, we don't really have much of a robotics scene here on Earth yet." She told him. "In fact, robots here, by comparison to you are kind of...primitive?"

"Primitive?" He asked.

"I saw one walk up a set of stairs once." Sarah told him. "Like...that was LITERALLY all it was programmed to do."

"That is primitive." Redbot agreed. "So that makes me the most advanced?"

"On this planet...I...I guess so." Sarah said with a shrug.

"Sizzling circuits, I'm the best!" Redbot said, doing a little dance, before running inside. Preston just looked curious.

"Did he seem happy to you?" Preston asked. "I thought Robots didn't have emotions."

"Oh, believe me that is FAR from the most bizarre thing I've seen!" Sarah commented.

"AIDEN!" Brody called out, running out of the farm and down the path. "AIDEN!"

He collapsed to his knees, cradling his head in his hands. Sarah and Preston both felt badly for him. They always knew it was a long shot that Aiden would still be here. Brody had been kidnapped ten years previously. He had told them his brother was a couple of years older than him, which still meant he was a kid himself. If he had been told by his father to hide, then it was highly likely he'd have to abandon the farm, since it was the first place anyone was likely to start looking for them if the monsters returned. It was more likely that if he was found, he'd have been turned over to the authorities. Either way, the odds against him still being here were pretty steep. Sarah went to Brody's side, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"My scanners show that the only three humans in the area are you three." Redbot confirmed. "There are other life forms, but I'm afraid there's no trace of Aiden."

"He's got to be here, he's GOT to be!" Brody said, looking completely desperate. He had already risked so much in escaping and coming here, but it looked like this was his only real thought on where to find Aiden and the Ninja Steel. Realistically, it was about all he could have thought of, he had been taken before Aiden had left to go...well...wherever it was he went.

"It's been over ten years. Aiden could be anywhere by now." Redbot said, trying to reason with Brody. This only seemed to upset him further and send him into a state of desperation. Sarah started to make soothing sounds to try and ease Brody's mood and get his attention.

"Brody, you said your dad taught Aiden to be a ninja too didn't you?" She asked. "Just like you?"

"Yeah, he did." Brody answered. "Aiden kept saying he wanted to go to the Academy when he was old enough. Dad always just said 'we'll see', which is just parent talk for 'no, but I don't want to talk about it', but Aiden was pretty good, better than me."

"Well, if he's half as resourceful as you then I'm sure wherever he is he's just fine." Sarah said in as cheerful a way as she could muster under the circumstances. It was true that his training would give him a good chance, from what little she knew of ninjas, she knew that they were taught a variety of skills to accomplish their tasks. She also knew from her friends in Amber Beach that even the most unlikely survival stories could have happy endings. So far, she had a Caveman, a Knight and a man that had been thought to have died over a decade earlier on an expedition born out of a schizophrenic delusion on her speed dial!

Brody couldn't bring himself to smile, but he nodded in agreement. The most well known skills taught to ninjas were stealth and martial arts, but they practiced a great many other skills as well. Wilderness survival was always tools in the ninja's arsenal. It wasn't always clear how long they would be gone or isolated without access to civilisation, so they were often taught to survive in the wilderness for extended periods of time. Their dad took them camping often, and when they were older, even stopped taking food, making them identify what they could forage safely. He had often warned them that when they got old enough, he would stop bringing a tent or any tools as well! If anyone of Aiden's age could survive without any kind of support, it would be Aiden.

"Uh...guys, this is probably the first place Galvanax is going to look, right?" Preston asked. "He could be here at any time! We really need to find the Ninja Steel and get out of here."

"We can look for your brother later, I promise we'll help." Sarah told him. "I have some friends that have some pretty wild survival stories too. Never give up hope! Until you receive absolute proof to the contrary, Aiden could still be alive and well."

"I guess...I guess we have to believe that." Brody answered.

"So, you said he would have hidden the Ninja Steel." Sarah reminded him. "Can you think of where?"

Brody thought about it for a moment, clearing his mind of any other thoughts. He smiled as he looked to them.

"I know exactly where he'd have hidden it!" He told them. "I'll bet it's in my dad's workshop! Follow me!"

Back at the school, Hayley and Calvin were nervously keeping an eye on Mick as he pretended he was a teacher. The more he interacted with the students, the more they started to regret shooting down his original plan of turning into a tyre.

"Mick really doesn't know what it means to lie low does he?" Calvin asked.

"It doesn't appear so." Hayley commented. "I guess being on the run from...whatever those things were would affect someone's sanity."

"On the run..." Calvin said, thinking about something. "You don't think...maybe we're on the wrong side do you?"

"Excuse me?" Hayley asked him.

"What if those things were like...intergalactic versions of cops?" Calvin asked her. "What if he's some kind of criminal and we've just helped him escape?"

"Cal, he's done nothing but try and help us. He fixed Nitro, it's run better this afternoon than it has since you built the damn thing." Hayley told him. "Those things attacked us without any cause! I think I know which side I believe are the bad guys in that story!"

"I guess you have a point." Calvin answered.

"TEACHER!" They heard a voice ring out, just as the doors to the painting room opened. Everyone looked around to see a classic car being rolled out. It was just like Victor that he couldn't just work on his project, he had to make sure everyone knew about it!

"That'll do Monty!" Victor said as Monty pushed their project car out of the paint room. "We're all done with the paint room! You there, you must be the new teacher!"

Mick didn't say anything, remembering what Hayley had told him. It wasn't really lying if he just let people make their own assumptions and then didn't correct them. Victor vaulted out of his car and stood before Mick.

"Well, I've kept things ticking over here for you! Needless to say I am your number one student! Victor Vincent! Six pack abs, impeccable teeth!" He said, giving Mick a toothy smile that made both Calvin and Hayley groan. When he wasn't pushing around weaker kids or aggrandising himself, Victor was generally finding ways to suck up to teachers to help him cruise through school. It looked like he was planning the same thing with his new shop teacher before he even got started in his new job. "Now, how about you admire this perfecto paint job?"

He took Mick around the side of the car, at which he and Monty started to admire their handiwork. Mick just watched on as they lauded their own efforts.

"Look at the sleek lines, look at the sweeping curves, mmmm!" Victor said.

"It's perfect! It should be in a museum!" Monty praised himself. Mick just made a low humming sound as he inspected it.

"Well...it's GOOD, but you forgot one thing that makes it...more of a C than an A+." Mick stated.

"Oh?" Victor asked him. "What's that?"

Mick closed over one of the doors to the paint room and grabbed both Victor and Monty together.

"Well, when you pushed the car out of the paint room, you parked it on the hose." Mick told them. "Which means any time now..."

There was a huge bang and the whole room shook, knocking several items off the shelves as the students shrieked. Mick held the door closed as parts flew into it. Fortunately the door, and Victor's car took the brunt of it, meaning very little debris flew into the room. Victor and Monty meanwhile were splattered in green paint, but Mick had moved them to ensure it would miss him.

"The compressor will explode." He concluded, grabbing a fire-extinguisher as smoke billowed out of the paint room. "No need to worry class! I've got this covered!"

As Victor and Monty left to get cleaned up, Calvin and Hayley followed Mick into the paint room where he was dousing what was left of the air compressor in foam to ensure it wouldn't catch fire.

"Um...Mick...little bit of constructive criticism." Calvin stated. "Most teachers would tell a student that BEFORE they blew up the classroom."

"Oh...I'll remember that in future." Mick answered as he went back to dousing the compressor in foam. Hayley just face-palmed.

"We are SO getting expelled if we don't get him out of here soon." She grumbled.

Back on the Romero farm, Aiden was digging up the floor while Sarah and Preston had a look around. Even if they didn't know that he was a ninja, Mr Romero seemed like a pretty interesting guy looking around. There was a variety of tools all around the workshop, tools that he presumably used to forge his weapons. There was a furnace, which they assumed he had been using to melt the Ninja Steel for forging, and nearby there was a shelf full of pictures and momentos.

"This was always our secret spot. Dad would always bury this box as part of our ninja training." Brody explained as he dug up the floor. "Dad would make Aiden and I find this spot blindfolded."

"Blindfolded?" Sarah asked. "Your dad sounds like a pretty...um...strange guy."

"I thought my dad could be harsh." Preston muttered. Brody just laughed.

"I guess out of context it does sound pretty harsh." Brody commented. "It was all part of our training. It was more of a game than anything else."

"Whoa!" Preston exclaimed as he pulled back a sheet, revealing a red truck. It was covered in dust and cobwebs, and clearly hadn't moved in years, but for all intents and purposes, it looked like it should still work, given a little bit of attention.

"That was my dad's truck." Brody said with a smile. "He didn't go into town often, so when he did we made a day of it, stocked that thing up to the gills and that would be us for another few months."

"So this is where your dad trained you and Aiden?" Sarah asked, seeing some trophies and some training equipment lying around.

"Sometimes, when it was too cold or the weather turned." Brody told her. "Most of the time we'd train outside though. You know, people say that my dad was the greatest ninja that ever lived."

"What people?" Preston asked.

"I don't know...people." Brody answered with a shrug. Sarah just shot Preston a withering look to tell him not to pursue this. It was natural for kids to want to believe their parents were the best at whatever it was they did, and without any evidence to the contrary, the potential was there that Brody was exactly right about that. Of course saying someone was the world's greatest ninja was somewhat like saying someone was the world's greatest spy. Strictly speaking if they WERE, then no one would know since their whole raison d'être was concealment and subterfuge. Not to mention the fact that if they did hardly ever leave the farm as Brody had said, then people weren't likely to talk about them much at all. Of course since Brody had in the last 24 hours escaped Galvanax's ship and found his brother had disappeared, the last thing he really needed was anyone challenging his childhood fantasy version of his father.

Back at the school, the students had finally gotten the last bell and had gone home. This meant the workshop was now empty and allowed Mick the opportunity to work on the Datacomm. Hayley and Calvin were grateful that the compressor explosion hadn't caused more of an incident than it already had. It looked like none of the students had made a complaint about it, probably because Victor had pressured them into staying quiet about his involvement. It was strictly speaking his fault, since he had caused the buildup in the air hose, but that didn't mean there wouldn't be a few uncomfortable questions about why the teacher on duty hadn't warned them sooner the compressor could explode, or hadn't seemed to do anything about it, which would inevitably lead to the question who he was and why he was there in the first place!

"Piece of cake!" Mick said as he finished with his repairs. "It just got a little shaken up. It only needed a few adjustments."

"Good, then call your friend, we're going to need to get out of here." Hayley told him. "If the janitor finds us in here, he'll start asking questions."

"Hold on." Mick told them. "I just need to find the frequency."

The spade hit something solid, and Brody immediately got down on his knees and started scrambling to dig it out with his hands. Sarah and Preston both closed in as he opened the box.

"Empty?" Brody said, sounding like his frustration was starting to get the better of him.

"Brody..."

"Where's the ninja steel?" He demanded, grabbing the box and throwing it across the room, where it scattered tools and hit the wall. Brody started to pace as he tried to think of what the next move was. Now he had no idea where Aiden OR the Ninja Steel was. Was it possible Aiden took it with him when he left? If so, where was it now?

"Brody, try to calm down." Preston told him. "This isn't doing any good..."

"Well, neither is this!" He snapped. Sarah had gone to retrieve the box, but as she did so, she noticed there was something in the box. The small amount of dirt that had gotten into the box through the gap between the sides and the lid must have concealed it. At first it looked like it was a piece of paper, but as she shook it off, she realised it was a Polaroid. It was pretty retro to hear of anyone using a Polaroid, but between the fact the picture looked like it was taken when Brody was a kid, and the age group of Brody's dad, it was entirely possible it was taken by his dad.

"Brody, what's this?" Sarah asked. She showed Brody the picture at which he inspected it, confirming what she suspected.

"It's a picture my dad took. That's me and my brother Aiden." He told her. "He took us to a tournament he attended. He won that trophy."

"Trophy?" Sarah asked, taking another look at the picture. She was starting to think of something. "I've...I've seen this trophy before..."

She thought to the entrance to the farm, and the name on the mailbox. She thought it sounded familiar!

"Brody, what was your dad's name?" She asked him.

"Dane Romero." Brody told her. She just squealed in delight.

"I KNEW that name was familiar!" She shrieked. "I saw that trophy earlier today! It's in the school trophy cabinet!"

"What's it doing there?" Preston asked. "Brody's dad never went to the school...neither did Brody or Aiden."

"Exactly, so why would the trophy be there now?" Sarah asked him. "And why would Aiden leave THIS picture behind where Brody would look for the Ninja Steel?"

"Because he hid the Ninja Steel in the trophy!" Brody said excitedly as he came to the same conclusion. Just then, his Datacomm bleeped. He answered it excitedly.

"Mick? He asked. "MICK! You're alive!"

"Yeah, I'm alive...though I don't think I'll be trying that again anytime soon." He responded. "Where are you?"

"Mick, I want you to listen to me really carefully, this is important." Brody told him. "I want you to meet me at the High School. Aiden hid the Ninja Steel in a trophy in the trophy cabinet."

"Right, I'll meet you right..." His words tailed off. "Um...Brody, I'm AT the High School."

"What?" Brody asked. "What are you doing...? Never mind, just...get the trophy, I'll meet you there!"

Sarah grabbed Brody's wrist and pulled it across.

"It's in the centre of the middle shelf, it's a martial arts trophy with a gold figure of a man doing a side-kick on the top. The name on the plaque is Dane Romero." Sarah told him.

"Um...who's that?" Mick asked.

"She's helping, I'll explain later." Brody told him. "Just get that trophy, and whatever you do, do NOT let anyone get their hands on it!"

They all snapped around as Redbot slammed a hand down on a counter, causing them to jump.

"Redbot, you gave us a heart attack!" Sarah gasped. "What was that about?"

"Master Brody, we may have a problem." Redbot stated, showing him some mechanical wreckage. Brody gulped.

"What is that?" Preston asked. "Some kind of...robot insect?"

"It's called a Buzz-cam." Brody told them. "It's what Cosmo Royale uses to film Galaxy Warriors."

"So he just heard and saw everything we just said." Preston surmised.

"Which means that Mick is in a whole world of trouble!" Brody answered. Sarah went to the truck and found the keys in the ignition. She turned it over, thanking her lucky stars that the engine seemed to still be running.

"OK, we need to get there fast." Sarah told them. "Let's just hope the engine holds up after all this time!"


	7. The Ninja Premier

Up on the Warrior Dome, producers and agents were tracking the Buzz-cams Cosmo had sent out to track the escape. One of the interns snapped up from his chair.

"I've got it!" Wrench screamed, bouncing excitedly in his seat and pointing at the screen. Since he had left Sledge's ship and taken a position on the Warrior Dome, he had been stuck with pretty much every menial and tedious job they could find. He had gone through decades of back-tapes for archives, done routine repairs on equipment; he'd even run standard maintenance on Kudabots, all in the hopes of finally working his way out of the position of 'intern'.

He had so far managed to get access to the security and surveillance systems, showing a flair for working with recording equipment. He had orchestrated Brody's escape, but there was always an agenda behind it. He had been on the ship long enough to know that Brody, Redbot and Mick were all good friends and always together. He knew that Brody would never attempt an escape and leave them behind, that was when a plan had started to hatch in his mind. Mick was the head mechanic. The one thing that would expedite the process of the promotion process faster than anything else was a new vacancy opening up. If all of a sudden the head mechanic disappeared...that would mean they would be looking for someone with experience and talent at short notice. It didn't matter to him if Mick actually escaped or was killed in the attempt, either way, it would open up the vacancy beautifully!

What he hadn't anticipated is them taking the Nexus Prism with them! He knew that Brody was desperate to escape, and he thought that giving him a short window would cause him to snatch the opportunity and run. He thought Brody would be happy enough just to be free, the last thing he expected was for him to anger Galvanax any further by robbing him in the process!

"I'll take the footage to...YAAAARGHHHH!" One of the other interns called out, reaching for the console. Wrench snatched up his axe and brought it down, severing his hand! He took the recording from the console and ran out of the production room himself, taking the recording straight to Cosmo, who was standing by the edge of the stage, going over designs for the latest merchandise line with Madame Odious.

"I really like these t-shirts. Ripper Rat is really coming up in the polls!" He said, observing a couple of designs. One of them showed a creature with massive chainsaws leaping out of the shirt towards the observer, while the other was simply a chainsaw with the name 'Ripper Rat' across the blade in print that looked like a blood splatter. "I like the simplicity of the chainsaw design, but this other one...it's really dynamic. I can't..."

"Mr Cosmo, Mr Cosmo!" Wrench screamed as he arrived. Cosmo held up a hand to silence him as he considered the decision for a moment.

"Why don't we put the decision in the hands of the fans? Do a phone poll, premium rate, let them do our market research for us!" Cosmo suggested. "That way instead of paying for it, we'll GET paid to have our job done for us!"

"A brilliant idea as always." Madame Odious said as a Kudabot arrived, handing her a note. "If you'll excuse me, I have an urgent private matter to attend to!"

"Of course of course, go ahead." Cosmo said as he turned his attention to Wrench. "So, what can I help you with my loyal intern?"

"I brought you a recording; we know where the Ninja Steel is!" Wrench told him. He plugged the recording into his own systems, before generating a hologram showing Brody.

" _Mick, I want you to listen to me really carefully, this is important. I want you to meet me at the High School. Aiden hid the Ninja Steel in a trophy in the trophy cabinet."_

Cosmo grinned evilly as he heard this.

"You've done good work intern!" He said. Just then, he saw another intern getting dragged away, screaming and clutching the bloody stump left by his severed hand. It was only then he noticed the blood splattered on Wrench's hull. "Did you...?"

"He...he wanted to bring this to you." Wrench told him. Cosmo just let out a laugh and clapped Wrench on the shoulder.

"I do love a little healthy competition for recognition!" He told Wrench. "Now, if you'll excuse me..."

He lifted up one of Wrench's hands and stubbed out his cigar on it, using his hand as an ashtray, before striding onto the stage, twirling his baton as he addressed the studio audience.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, you are here on a VERY special night! Tonight Galaxy Warriors premiers a deadly, brutal, and exciting new format!" Cosmo Royale announced. "Earlier today, some ungrateful interns stole the Nexus Prism. Now, instead of each other, monsters will track the vile thieves to bring back the Nexus Prism! Whoever does so will become a true Galaxy Warriors elite like our illustrious champion Galvanax!"

The crowd roared as he announced this.

"Now, who should we allow to be the first to receive this honour? Do you think it should be the first to have this illustrious honour?" He asked, twisting his hand behind his ear. The crowd was electric, all calling out the names of their favourite fighters. He smiled and nodded as he heard the suggestions roll in. "Well, they are all good suggestions, but I think I have the ideal candidate in mind. On a hot-streak of fifteen straight wins, thirteen by way of bloody dismemberment, and voted this year's rookie of the year, RIPPER RAT!"

In a flash of light, a monster appeared before the crowd to a huge response. He was a large, white creature, that looked a lot like a rat, but covered in armour, and with a couple of huge, curved chainsaw weapons coming down from his forearms. He revved them up, causing the crowd to go wild!

"I'm ready to RIP!" Ripper Rat declared, at which Cosmo gestured to the technicians by the side of the stage. In a flash of light, Ripper Rat disappeared, heading to Earth to hunt down the Ninja Steel and the thieves who had stolen the Nexus Prism.

In the High School, Calvin and Hayley followed Mick as he went in search of the trophy. They really did have no idea what was going on, but since hiding Mick had been such a headache, and he seemed to be in a hurry, they presumed it had to be important. If nothing else, it would be an expedient way to get him out of there before anyone else came looking for him.

"Alright, there's the trophy case." Hayley told him. "There's the trophy! Now, if you hold on a minute, I..."

Before she could finish, Mick put his elbow straight through the glass.

"I was GOING to say I have a key and can open it!" Hayley told him, showing him the key. "I'm on the yearbook committee!"

"Oh...sorry." Mick answered, taking the trophy down. He flipped open the top, looking inside. Both Hayley and Calvin looked inside, and were rather...unimpressed.

"That's what those things are after?" Calvin asked. "It just looks like scrap metal!"

"Believe me, if this does half the things the legends say it does, it's a LOT more valuable than scrap!" Mick told them. "We need to get to Brody, fast!"

Unfortunately, they weren't fast enough. At that moment, the doors were kicked in, almost coming clean off their hinges, and Ripper Rat strode in, revving up his chainsaws. He faced them all down, striding towards them.

"Ha, gotcha!" Ripper Rat called out. "Give me the Ninja Steel!"

"Um...still think I'm a fugitive and these things are cops?" Mick asked. Calvin just looked a little sheepish.

"You heard that?" Calvin asked.

"Once again, I have average hearing and I was only a few feet away!" Mick responded.

"Well he doesn't look like any cops I've ever seen." Hayley gulped. "I think we can safely say which side is the right side."

"He looks a lot tougher and meaner than the last guys!" Calvin said in a panic. "Am I the only one that votes we run for it?"

"Sounds like a good plan to me!" Mick yelled as he started sprinting away. Calvin and Hayley followed suit with Ripper Rat in hot pursuit.

On the road back to the school, Sarah was pushing the engine of Dane's aging truck as much as she dared to. The truck clearly hadn't been used in some time, and she had real concerns about the engine holding up.

"Alright, the school's just up ahead." Preston told her. "If you take this right, it'll bring you to the front parking lot."

"I don't mean to alarm anyone, but I'm picking up life signs from inside the school." Redbot told them. "Life signs that aren't human."

"You mean alien bio-signs?" Sarah asked, looking a little ill. She'd heard Kendall say those words more than a few times, and it rarely meant anything good for the city, or her friends. Redbot just looked to her.

"I...suppose you could phrase it like that." He answered, finding this a bit of an odd thing to say. They pulled up to the front, seeing the doors having been smashed in.

"I think it's fair to say they're in trouble." Brody stated, leaping out of the truck. Sarah and Preston did as well. "Come on, Mick needs our help!"

Inside, Calvin shrieked as a power wave flew from Ripper Rat's weapon, narrowly missing him and smashing apart some lockers.

"I sincerely doubt that guy's into giving warning shots!" Hayley remarked. "Come on, this way!"

They ran into the school gym, but as they got there, they realised they had made a terrible mistake. Running to the fire exit, it looked like the janitor had already been this way on his rounds and locked it. There was a heavy chain securing their only way out. They turned around in time to see Ripper Rat coming in, blocking the only other entrance.

"Finally, got you cornered like rats!" He said as Buzz-cams flew into the room, taking up optimal positions to capture the fight. "Now, give me the Ninja Steel or else!"

He threw forward a couple of power waves, blasting Calvin, Hayley and Mick to the ground. Mick looked to his Datacomm, realising it was now damaged, so he couldn't call Brody for help.

"Does this guy not realise it's customary to give people a chance to give up when you use the words 'or else'?" Calvin grumbled.

"I don't think he's too concerned with collateral damage." Hayley told him. "By the way, we'd be collateral."

"Quick, grab something!" Calvin said as he ran for some equipment in the corner, grabbing an aluminium baseball bat. "GOONGALA!"

He ran at Ripper Rat, screaming as he swung for the fences. Hayley was quickly by his side, whaling on Ripper Rat with a tennis racket to help her boyfriend.

"SHIT!" Calvin yelled as he pulled away, one of Ripper Rat's weapons barely grazing him, but opening up a nasty injury on his ribs. "Those chainsaws aren't for show! This guy's serious!"

"I guess you never SAW that coming!" He cackled, going after Hayley. Fortunately, she was able to duck his blow, and connect with the tennis racket. Calvin wasn't about to let her risk her life by himself and joined in to help, but as soon as the chainsaws revved up higher, both of them were only just able to get out of the way as he sliced through both of their weapons with ease. Calvin gulped.

"That bat was made of aluminium!" He screeched.

"I gave you a sporting chance, now it's all over!" He answered, throwing out a power wave that knocked both of them down. "Now you've seen what these things will do to a bat, how about we see what they'll do to a human?"

Before he got to them though, a section of the wall caved in and he was driven hard into the opposite wall by the opportune arrival of the Ninja Nexus Prism. He was lying on the ground stunned, giving Calvin and Hayley time to get up.

"Guys, look...it's the Ninja Nexus Prism!" Mick said excitedly. "The Yellow and White Power Stars...they're glowing!"

"That's...that's great! Can we get out of here before that thing wakes up?" Calvin asked him.

"Trust me, if he wakes up and gets those stars, it'll be worse than if he gets the Ninja Steel." Mick told them. "Reach in and take those stars!"

Hayley and Calvin looked to each other. They didn't understand any of what had happened to them today, but without much in the way of an alternate idea, they both approached. They reached inside the Ninja Nexus Prism, which allowed them to do so without any resistance. They took their Power Stars and pulled them out.

"You took the Power Stars!" Mick exclaimed excitedly. "Do you know what this means?"

"No!" They both replied honestly.

"I know what it means!" Brody answered as he, Sarah, Preston and Redbot arrived. "It means you're Power Rangers!"

"Yeah, just like us!" Sarah added, still brimming with excitement at finally being able to say that.

"Power...Rangers?" Hayley asked. She had of course heard of Power Rangers. She was old enough to have heard of at least a couple of teams, so she had some idea of what the term meant. She saw Preston arriving, putting on his top hat. "Preston? What are you doing here?"

"Calvin and Hayley?" He asked, looking happy. He couldn't say he really KNEW them particularly well, but they did have some of the same classes together, and he never really had any problems with them. They hadn't given him a hard time about his magic shows or how he dressed, so by comparison to a lot of kids at the school, they were pretty cool as far as he was concerned.

"Hi, I'm Sarah!" Sarah introduced herself. "I'm from out of town!"

"I'm Brody." Brody chipped in. "I'm from...well...out of town too."

"I'm Redbot." Redbot introduced himself. "I assure you I'm a friend."

"Guys, we might want to leave the deeper introductions until later." Mick suggested, pointing in Ripper Rat's direction. "You have a serious rodent problem to deal with!"

"Just do what we do!" Sarah told them. "Believe me, if I tried to explain it, you'd never believe me!"

Sarah, Preston and Brody all stood with their Power Stars in their hands, at which their Ninja Morphers appeared. Calvin and Hayley followed suit, and were stunned when their morphers appeared too.

"OK, now lock in your stars." Brody explained. "Ninja SPIN!"

"Ninja SPIN!" They all chorused together, and in a flash of light and a puff of smoke, they were all transformed.

Up on the Warrior Dome, Wrench was watching the broadcast. Seeing this latest development, he was sure he'd feel sick to his stomach if he still had one.

"Power Rangers?" He shrieked. "I took this job to get AWAY from Power Rangers!"

"Woweee! What a development!" Cosmo yelled, skipping across the stage as the battle continued on the in-studio monitor. He knew the Ninja Power Stars had tremendous power, that was why Galvinax wanted them in the first place! Now that these earthlings had taken them, he couldn't imagine what he was going to do. That was when something most unexpected happened. He heard the biggest cheer from the crowd he could remember in years. "Wait...what...?"

He watched as the Rangers started to attack Ripper Rat, one of the recent rising stars, but while he was holding his own, whenever the Rangers struck, the crowd went completely insane! Was it possible that...they were ENJOYING seeing these strange new warriors?

"Wow! It looks like that chipped a few teeth!" He called out as Preston hit one of his saws with his Ninja Sword. The crowd erupted again. He looked to a device on his wrist and nearly had a heart attack. His ratings were climbing higher and higher by the minute! He searched his brain for what they had just called themselves. "Power Rangers."

"POWER RANGERS, POWER RANGERS, POWER ANGERS!" The crowd started to chant. Cosmo just watched the battle, all the time grinning from ear to ear.

Back down on the ground, the Rangers had managed to drive Ripper Rat outside, hoping to prevent any more damage to the school. As they rolled clear after an attack, Sarah stood with Hayley.

"Hey, maybe our Morphers have an attack mode!" She suggested, remembering that her friends in Amber Beach had weapons combined with their morphers. Shelby had told her how Tyler had almost accidentally blown her head off with his morpher the first time they used them.

"Good idea." Hayley answered. "I think I see a switch here...WHOA!"

The morpher opened out into an Energy Bow. Sarah did the same, at which they both took aim.

"Guys, get clear!" Hayley called out. "ARROW BLAST!"

Ripper Rat was staggered by the impact, and his armour started to break up. Calvin took inspiration from seeing his girlfriend use her morpher and pulled out his own. Trying another switch, bringing out a blade.

"Battle Morpher, Blade SLASH!" He called out, swinging around and taking out one of the chainsaws and most of Ripper Rat's armour.

"That won't stop me!" Ripper Rat yelled, clutching what was left of his armour, hoping to keep it from falling apart.

"I'll bet Claw Mode will!" Preston responded as he dove down on him from a great height, bringing down his morpher, which had to long blades protruding from it, which took care of the last of Ripper Rat's armour.

"Alright, time to finish this!" Brody declared, activating a button on his ninja sword. "Red Ninja, Steel Slash!"

He rushed for Ripper Rat, smashing aside his one remaining weapon and slicing straight through, before dropping to one knee on the other side. Ripper Rat just collapsed to his knees, before falling face-first to the ground and exploding. Brody got up, and seeing a Buzz-Cam nearby, he approached it, staring straight into it. "Show's over, Ninjas Win!"

Up on the Warrior Dome, the crowd was on the verge of a full-on riot, crying out for more. Cosmo gestured wildly to his Kudabots who were waiting just off stage with a device.

"WOW! That was an EPIC battle! Almost a shame it had to end!" Cosmo said, before looking to the crowd. "But you all know what that means don't you? YOU decide, is Ripper Rat worthy of another chance?"

There was never any doubt in his mind what the result would be. He had never seen his security have to work so hard to restrain a crowd before. The audience reaction meter quickly filled, and set off fireworks.

"The crowd has spoken! You all know what this means don't you?" Cosmo declared.

"GIGANTIFY!" They all called out in unison. Cosmo did a little twirl on the stage, before slamming his hand down on the button, firing a beam from the ship.

Back in the school, the Rangers were just catching their breath after the battle.

"You guys did great." Brody congratulated his team.

"Um...Brody, are you sure this is over?" Sarah asked, becoming a little nervous.

"What do you mean?" Calvin asked. "Last time I checked, when things go boom, that usually means they're done."

"Brody, there are cameras, that means they're filming this right?" Sarah said, remembering all the episodes of Galaxy Warriors she had been watching.

"Well...yeah." Brody answered. "Oh...shit!"

"What?" Hayley asked.

"Um...on the show, if the audience thinks one of the monsters did well enough..."

Before he could finish explaining, the beam hit the ground where Ripper Rat had fallen. Brody, Hayley, Calvin, Preston and Sarah all started to back up as Ripper Rat was revived and started to grow.

"Oh, this is...not good!" Preston stated. "This is not good AT ALL!"


	8. The Real Power

The Rangers could only stand and watch as Ripper Rat revived and grew to tower over them. Hayley looked to her ninja sword and then back to him and sighed.

"Anyone get the feeling these aren't going to cut it?" She asked.

"Cosmo upped the arsenal; I guess we have to as well." Brody answered.

"That sounds great! Calvin answered. "So what do you have?"

"Um...I have...absolutely no idea!" Brody answered honestly. "Though if anyone has any suggestions, this would be a great time!"

Just then, the Ninja Nexus Prism started to glow, and they could swear they heard some chimes in their minds. They all turned towards it, seeing images appearing in it.

"What are those things?" Preston asked, marvelling at the images. Sarah started to squeal.

"Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my GOD!" She stammered.

"If the legends are true, then those are your Zords!" Mick told them.

"WE GET ZORDS!" Sarah squealed as she hopped excitedly on the spot. They all turned to stare at her. "Um...we're Rangers...Rangers get Zords right?"

Mick reached into the trophy, pulling out the only pieces of Ninja Steel he had found that were man-made shapes.

"Those are the shuriken my dad was making!" Brody stated. "Ninja throwing stars!"

"Not for long they're not!" Mick told him, interpreting the messages he was getting from the prism, and tossed them inside. The Prism started to glow brightly and spin in place, before firing out brand new Power Stars. The Rangers only just managed to catch them, staring at them. "Now, those are your Zord stars! You'll use them to summon your new Zords!"

"We get ZORDS!" Sarah screamed again. Brody stepped forward, snapping his Zord star into his ninja sword. "Zord stars, NINJA SPIN!"

Before they knew what to expect, a new warrior ran into view, several stories tall, and bright red in colour. It hit Ripper Rat with a thunderous blow, knocking him back. Looking to each other, the Rangers each put their own Zord stars into their ninja swords and activated them.

Up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo was taken aback. Normally once one of the competitors was gigantified, the match was all but over. There were rare instances that a competitor would best a warrior who had been gigantified, there were even rare instances that the audience was so into a match that they called for BOTH competitors to be gigantified! The last time that had happened was the night Galvanax lifted the title! However, never before had he seen anyone have an actual answer for a gigantified opponent. He had certainly never seen Rangers before, so he was completely unprepared for Zords!

There was strictly speaking nothing he could do about it either. The rules of Galaxy Warriors were very simple, the winner was the one that walked away, the loser was the one that didn't! There was no restriction on exactly HOW a competitor got that victory, finding and using weapons wasn't just considered a damned good idea, it was actively encouraged! He had actually seen one match end when a monster managed to trigger a planet's strategic defence system and target it at his opponent.

What was more was, these Zords were incredible! They were powerful, they were colourful, and most importantly of all, they were POPULAR! As the Zoom Zord launched some shuriken at Ripper Rat, forcing him back onto caltrops that Calvin's Nitro Zord had laid, the crowd started laughing evilly seeing him dance in agony.

He checked his wrist device and his ratings climbed ever higher. He could only imagine what social media was saying, the only explanation was that all the networks were lit up with people screaming to all their friends to tune in! His mind was already spinning with the possibilities.

"He had only taken his eyes off the screen for a moment, and Ripper Rat was taken out once more. With the explosion, the camera zoomed in on Brody, who was still holding his Ninja Blaster. He looked straight into the camera and smiled.

"Show's over, Ninjas WIN!" He said, before opening fire and the screen went blank. Cosmo couldn't care in the slightest at the loss of a camera. It was the reason he had so many, but when the crowd was all on their feet, chanting for these new warriors, Cosmo could only react. He turned to the audience and smiled.

"It looks like Summer Cove is now rat free!" He commented. "See you all next week!"

He strode off the stage, and as soon as he got there, he accepted his usual martini and cigar from a couple of Kudabots. He was elated; his heart was racing, but not as quickly as his brain was. He saw Galvanax coming towards him.

"Champ, it's great to see you!" He declared. "Did you see the show? Did you see the crowd? They LOVED the Rangers!"

"I don't care about ratings!" Galvanax roared, grabbing Cosmo by the coat and lifting him clean off his feet. The martini glass fell from his hand to shatter on the floor. "They stole my POWER STARS!"

"But...but...champ..."

"I want more monsters, I want an army! I want those POWER STARS!" He screamed.

"But...but...but champ, even you have to play by the rules!" Cosmo stated.

"It's your show, you MAKE the rules!" Galvanax growled angrily.

"But the NETWORK makes MY rules!" Cosmo told him. "An event of that magnitude, that scale, that destruction...they'd NEVER allow it!"

Galvanax had no patience for the politics involved. He didn't care about business. All he cared about was his position as champion, his power, his prestige. Beyond that, he didn't care at all. All he knew was that he didn't have any real control over the other athletes on the show. They weren't an army, they were independent athletes. He tossed Cosmo into the wall, where he only just managed to stay on his feet. He stuck a finger in his face in warning.

"I want those Power Stars Cosmo, I want them NOW!" He yelled. "Remember who runs this place!"

As he stomped off, Cosmo just straightened out his suit as some of his attendants came to check on him.

"Find that new intern; tell him to meet me in my office right now!" Cosmo stated, before heading for his office.

Back at Summer Cove High, the Rangers rolled into the yard out behind the Shop Class in Nitro. They had gone to clear up as much of the debris as they could from the highway, and as much as they could find that was useful from the Romero farm.

"There's a lot of activity out the front." Sarah commented, having seen the authorities, there to assess the damages to the school and the surrounding area. "We should really find somewhere to keep all of this under wraps."

"I think I have an idea." Hayley told them, gesturing inside. They all followed her, at which she stood by the door to the paint booth. She panned her hands up and down the door. "How about in here?"

"The painting room?" Preston asked.

"What? It's quiet, there's plenty of room." Hayley said, listing the positives.

"Yeah, but...it's the painting booth." Preston reiterated. "What happens when someone wants to...you know...paint?"

"Well, that would be a problem, but in his infinite wisdom, Victor blew up the compressor." Calvin told them with a smirk. "Which means that this place is..."

Hayley hung a sign on the door, bearing the words 'Out of order'.

"Out of order!" She declared. "We won't be disturbed."

"That only leaves a couple of problems." Preston stated, before pointing to Mick, Redbot and Brody. "Won't someone notice them hanging around?"

"Well, Principal Hastings already believes that Mick is the new Shop teacher." Calvin said, pointing to the eccentric alien. "And Brody is our age, so, he could pass for a student..."

"Students have to enrol." Preston reminded them. "That means paperwork. Birth certificate, middle school transcripts, medical records, that kind of thing."

"Principal Hastings said something about Mick needing to hand in his paperwork within a week." Hayley recalled regretfully. "That's going to be a problem."

"I can handle that." Sarah rushed out. They all looked to her.

"What do you mean you can handle that?" Hayley asked her.

"I have...um...friends." She told them.

"You have friends that can forge personal identification documents?" Calvin asked her. "Do I even want to ask?"

"It's probably best you don't." Sarah answered. "And as long as Redbot stays out of sight, he should be fine."

"I guess I finally get to go to High School!" Brody said with a smile. The others all laughed, at which Brody felt a little bit better about the situation. However, he did have one thing still to address. "Listen, guys...I just want to thank you all for saving us today. None of you knew us; you had absolutely no reason to get yourselves involved in our fight."

"Hey, you needed help, we were happy to help." Calvin said, wincing slightly as he ran a hand across his side. "Though I'll probably feel a LITTLE better about helping once this is healed."

"Yeah, if there's one thing I've learned it that helping people is always the right thing to do." Sarah said, remembering Tyler's old motto. "Bad things happen in the world, but if good people do nothing about it, then nothing's ever going to change."

"Damn right." Hayley answered, fist-bumping with Sarah. Brody just sighed.

"I appreciate it, but this was our fight. I brought this to your doorstep, and for that, I'm sorry." Brody continued as he looked to them regretfully. "I escaped the Warrior Dome and came to Earth to find my brother, hide the Prism and find the Ninja Steel. I only accomplished some of that, but in doing so, I put you all in danger and that was an accident."

"I don't think it was an accident" Mick told them, looking to the Ninja Nexus Prism. "For years, I learned everything I could about the legends of the Ninja Nexus Prism. It holds great mysteries, great power, and it was formed to save the universe from dangerous foes."

"Well, if that rat thing is anything to go by, I'd say this Galvanax guy definitely qualifies." Preston said nervously.

"I think the Ninja Nexus Prism knew that too, and chose you to be the Power Rangers." Mick said, looking to them. Calvin stood up straight, puffing out his chest with pride.

"So, we're responsible for saving the world?" He asked.

"It looks like it!" Brody stated.

"Then...let's get to work!" Hayley said excitedly.

"Alright, if this is going to be our secret base, the first thing we'll need is secret entrances!" Mick said with a childish enthusiasm, grabbing some tools.

"Um...why?" Calvin asked. "There's a door right there!"

"I think it might look a little odd if we keep going in and out of a room that's marked as out of order." Hayley reminded him.

"Besides, secret entrances are cool!" Sarah said, getting fond memories of the T-Rex slide into the Dino Lab.

"SOOOO cool!" Mick agreed. "Come on!"

As he ran into the paint room, followed by Preston, Calvin and Hayley, Sarah just stared at the Nexus Prism.

"Brody, didn't you say there were six Ninja Power Stars?" Sarah asked him. He just looked to the Prism as she said this. "Because we only pulled out five."

"The Gold Power Star is gone." Brody commented. "Someone must have pulled it out before it went to Hayley and Calvin."

"So the question is, who has it now?" Sarah asked him.

"I wish I knew." He answered honestly. Sarah just gathered up her things.

"Tell the others I'll meet them here tomorrow." Sarah told him. "I've got...um...an important call to make."

"What?" Brody asked.

"You want those documents don't you?" She asked. "Well, then I have to get going!"

With that, she sprinted out of the Shop Class, leaving Brody scratching his head in confusion.

Back on the Warrior Dome, Wrench made his way into Cosmo Royale's office, finding the creature staring out of his window. His office was almost half the size of Sledge's whole ship, and seemed to double as his living quarters. It was styled in an elegant and stylish fashion, with antiques and precious materials from all over the universe as part of its design. Valuable artwork from numerous galaxies were on display, and posters depicting some of the past and present legends of the Warrior Dome lined his walls. There were mock-ups of the various guises of the championship belt that had been worn by the champions over the years in a trophy cabinet, and his desk was carved from what looked a lot like mahogany. The window was the full size of the wall, giving him a commanding and spectacular view of the Milky Way.

"It's something to see isn't it?" Cosmo asked him. "Even when we're in a backwater like the Milky Way, I always find this window gives me a spectacular view that always has me feeling like I could just reach out and manipulate the very stars."

"Y...y...y...you wanted to s...s...s...see me s...s...s...s...sir?" Wrench stammered nervously. He had been summoned to Cosmo's office, and the way he was summoned, he was left under no false impressions that it was not an invite he could turn down. Cosmo turned around and gestured to a seat in front of his desk. Again, Wrench got the impression this wasn't really a request and reluctantly sat down.

"Those Power Rangers are really quite something aren't they?" He asked. Wrench just nodded.

"Oh yes, they're really..." Cosmo poured himself a martini.

"Do you want one?"

"Um...I don't..."

"Oh, right, of course." Cosmo stated, taking a sip of his drink, before taking a draw on his cigar. "And to think, all of this came about out of that escape earlier today. If that boy, that...Brody hadn't escaped, then we wouldn't have these Power Rangers popping up."

"I...suppose not." Wrench said, becoming a little twitchy. He knew he was responsible for the escape, and by extension he was responsible for the Rangers. Cosmo smiled.

"I also can't help noticing this has worked out rather well for you now hasn't it?" He asked. "I mean, I know you weren't exactly thrilled with the thought of being an intern. With that traitor Mick flying the coop, we're in need of a new Head Mechanic."

Now Wrench was REALLY worried! If Cosmo suspected that he had engineered the escape to clear a vacancy for himself and in the process created their most powerful enemies, he was in serious trouble.

"Did I ever tell you that before I took over this show it was just a small-time promotion?" Cosmo asked him. "You know what I did then?"

"No sir." Wrench asked him.

"I was a technical producer. I worked on a lot of the technical systems. Computers and suchlike." He told him, before pulling up some security footage. It showed Wrench working at a security terminal during the escape. Now Wrench knew for a fact he was in trouble. He got up, scattering his chair away. "Your cute little tricks might have worked on that shit bucket Sledge called a ship, but I was working with computer codes far more advanced than that for years. Did you really think I didn't know it was you?"

"Sir, please, I beg you..."

"You created the Rangers!" Cosmo interrupted him, advancing on him.

"Sir...please...I..." He was stunned as Cosmo grabbed him and kissed him on the forehead enthusiastically.

"Have you SEEN their ratings?" He squealed. "They're through the roof! I've never seen numbers like this! NO ONE has!"

"You're...you're...happy?" Wrench asked him.

"My boy, I'm EXSTATIC!" Cosmo screamed, dancing around. "I can see it now! Posters, t-shirts, buttons, mugs...ACTION FIGURES! These Rangers are going to make me a bloody FORTUNE!"

"But...but...but Galvanax was furious!" Wrench said. Cosmo just gave him a smile that if anything scared him more than Galvanax.

"Oh, he's a hot head alright, and if he knew what you did, we wouldn't be having this conversation." Cosmo answered. "He's the champion, which means he holds a lot of sway. The fans like him, the network likes him and the fans like him, which means he's valuable, but that isn't always going to be the case. He throws his weight around because we have to keep him happy and believing he's the one in control makes him happy. If you want to know who the real power is on this ship? You're looking at him!"

Cosmo sat in a chair and crossed his feet on the desk, taking a long drag of his cigar.

"Congratulations. You're the new Head Mechanic." Cosmo told him.

"You...you mean it?" Wrench asked, being unable to believe his luck. He was sure he was done for. Cosmo smiled.

"I already told you, I like a little healthy competition for recognition. Creating that vacancy for yourself really showed initiative." Cosmo said with an evil grin. "I also still need a Head Mechanic and hiring one that already knows about Rangers and how they work seems like a good idea."

"You...you know about...?"

"Please, I do a thorough check on everyone I hire." He answered, sliding a contract towards him. "You'll get a significant upgrade to your quarters, not to mention all the assistants and equipment you could want. If there's anything you need, just ask for it. Not to mention a generous salary."

"I get PAID!" Wrench screamed, scribbling his name on the contract. "Thank you sir, THANK YOU!" You won't regret this I promise!"

"Oh, I better not." Cosmo told him. "Oh, and if you pull a stunt like your little escape ploy again? You'll find yourself a competitor on the next broadcast, and I'll feed you to...Galvanax! Do we understand each other?"

Wrench just nodded his head.

"Good." He told him. "Take a couple of Kudabots to help you move to your new quarters. Enjoy them."

With that, he waved him off, at which Wrench gleefully left the room. He stood there for a moment, looking at the contract in his hands.

"I GET PAID!" He screamed.

Back on Earth, Sarah arrived home, where her parents were waiting.

"Sarah!" Her mom screamed, running over and hugging her. "We just saw the news! Were you...?"

"I was safe mom!" Sarah assured her mom, completely lying through her teeth to do so. "I was um...in the Shop Class! We barricaded ourselves in!"

"I don't believe this, I really don't believe this." Her dad said, pacing the room. "I thought we'd left this shit behind when we left Amber Beach."

"Al, language!" Mrs Thompson warned him.

"I don't think my language is the concern right now!" He snapped.

"Dad, if we survived Amber Beach, I think we can survive just about anything!" Sarah assured him. "Seriously, bad things happen all over the world! There's literally nowhere you can run to where there isn't some sort of danger!"

"We just worry about you honey!" Sarah's mother told her. "I mean, at least in Amber Beach you had friends. You just moved here, you must have been so scared on your own..."

"But I wasn't on my own!" Sarah told her. "I made some great friends here."

"You did?" Al asked. "Already?"

"I guess...life-threatening situations can do that." She answered. "Mom...do you mind if I go to my room?"

"Sarah, we have to..."

"Please, I think I really just want a quiet night." She told her mother. "It was a little surprising to find myself in the middle of something like that again."

"Well..." She said, looking to her husband, who just shrugged. He was already wondering how great a move this really was. It seemed like just as they had moved from Amber Beach, the problems ended there and started right back up again here in Summer Cove! "...I'll bring some micro pizza up in a little while."

"Thanks mom." Sarah said, hugging both her parents. "I should probably call my friends back in Amber Beach. By now they've possibly heard of the attack. I don't want them to worry."

"That's my girl." Mrs Thompson said, ruffling her hair. "Always thinking of others!"

Sarah left the room and ran up to her bedroom, turning on her computer. As she waited for it to boot up, she got on the phone, hitting speed dial.

"Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up..."

"Hello?" The voice on the other end asked.

"Dr Morgan?" Sarah asked. "It's Sarah."

"SARAH!" She called out. "I just heard the news, is everything alright? Were you...?"

"I'm fine Dr Morgan, better than fine, AMAZING even!" Sarah rushed out. "Where are you?"

"I'm in my office." Dr Morgan told her. "Why?"

"Close your door and turn on your computer." Sarah told her. "I'm starting up a Skype call."

"Um...alright?" Dr Morgan said, doing as she was told. She answered the Skype as it came through, seeing Sarah on the screen. "Alright, what is this about?"

"You are NOT going to believe this!" Sarah said, standing before the camera. She summoned up her morpher. NINJA SPIN!"

"Oh good grief!" Kendall sighed, seeing Sarah morph. She had arranged for the move to Summer Cove specifically to keep Sarah out of trouble. She just pulled off her glasses and started rubbing her temples. "This isn't a social call is it?"

"I'm afraid not." Sarah answered, de-morphing. "Dr Morgan, I'm going to have to ask for a few favours."

 **A/N:** WOW! Well, THAT was a productive couple of days! That was six chapters in three days? Again, sorry, but I won't be able to commit to that kind of productivity on a regular basis. Still, the story's well underway now. Hope you've all enjoyed the fruits of what is admittedly an unusually productive couple of days!


	9. Questions and Answers

Life was good! Wrench could hardly believe the difference a week had made to his lot in life, but all things considered, life was pretty damn good! Through his own machinations, he had gone from being an 'intern', little better than a slave, to running the entire tech division within the Warrior Dome! He now had great living quarters, he had a bunch of 'interns' of his own to order around, and most importantly, he was getting PAID!

He wasn't, of course, in a perfect position. He knew that Cosmo had him backed into a corner. Cosmo Royale, the promoter and the true power behind Galaxy Warriors was more than aware of Wrench's involvement in Mick, Brody and Redbot escaping from the ship, and he made sure that Wrench was aware of this. The only reason he hadn't met his end at Galvanax's hands for his part in creating the Ranger nuisance in the first place was because Cosmo was more interested in the effect they had on his ratings than anything else.

As he made his way into the databank room, where they housed the servers that kept all the information they had ever gathered in order to try and make the most competitive and entertaining matches, he snapped his fingers.

"I believe I ordered a mocha!" He stated. An intern came towards him, struggling with a large envelope under his arm, while carrying a large coffee. He only had one hand, his other wrist still bandaged up and being held in a sling. This intern had lost his hand when he had made the mistake of trying to take the recording that Wrench had shown to Cosmo showing them the location of the Ninja Steel. The expression on his face was one of complete disgust as he held the coffee for Wrench. The cyborg looked to it, and then back to him.

"What syrup?" He asked.

"Peppermint." The intern sighed.

"How many shots?" Wrench asked.

"Two." The intern replied.

"How many sugar?" Wrench asked him.

"None. You take sweetener." The intern groaned. "Three..."

"THREE?" Wrench shrieked at him, interrupting him. "I only take TWO!"

"I'm sorry, I..."

Wrench slapped the coffee from his hand, also scattering the folder on the floor.

"Can you do ANYTHING right?" Wrench asked him. "Clean this up and go and do it again!"

The intern got down on his knees, starting to gather up his paperwork. As Wrench headed for one of the databanks, Cosmo was waiting for him.

"He does know you don't even drink right?" Cosmo asked him. Wrench chuckled.

"I just LOVE having interns!" Wrench admitted. "I spent so long having Sledge trample all over me, it's such a great novelty to make someone else suffer!"

"Well, never let it be said I don't like messing with the help a little." Cosmo agreed. He took Cosmo to a computer bank. "Now, why did you call me down here?"

"I just found that there have been an awful lot of very strange Data Comm requests lately." Wrench told him. "There's an awful lot about Earth..."

"Well, we are orbiting Earth, and most of our competitors know they could be chosen for this week's show." Cosmo answered. "They're probably just doing a little research."

"I thought so too, but the nature of some of these searches is really strange." Wrench told him. "I've got a lot of questions here on human physiology...specifically requirements for keeping them in captivity."

"How regularly does a human need to eat? How do you regulate a human's natural waste production? Advanced brain wave research?" Cosmo said, reading some of the requests. "Where are these coming from?"

"I don't know, whoever asked these questions is trying hard to hide their location. I can't even tell if it's a fixed console or one of our mobile Datacomms." Wrench told him. "There's also these..."

"Where can I find a good burger in Summer Cove? Why do dogs walk in a circle before lying down? Where's the main entrance to Summer Cove Plaza? Where is the best ice-cream shop in Summer Cove?" Cosmo said, reading some more of the recent requests that Wrench had flagged as strange. "Who's asking all of these?"

"I don't know, I'm having a little difficulty tracking it down, but I'm pretty close." Wrench told him. Cosmo just stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"I'm going to have a look at the contestants pool, see who would make an interesting choice for this week." Cosmo told him. "Keep me posted on this. Let me know what you find out."

"I will." Wrench replied, taking up a chair and beginning to work at his console as Cosmo left the room.

Back on Earth, Sarah was eating breakfast, but kept glancing at the door. Her mom and dad came into the room, coming to sit at the table with her, setting down their own plates.

"So, after explaining to him how the process works, he STILL managed to get it wrong!" Al chuckled. "I took it straight back to him and said, 'I don't know what reports you were reading, but they sure as hell weren't these ones!'. I swear, I think that guy must do his pay-ins blindfolded."

"Fascinating dear." Mrs Thompson said, somehow managing to feign interest. Sarah never did figure out how her mom managed to not sound sarcastic whenever she listened to her dad's stories from the office. Being an auditor, he was paid to ensure that the financial figures balanced at the end of the day. To listen to him talk, without hearing the details one would think he was talking about the most exciting game in the world he was playing, but it was just chasing ones and zeros around on paper.

"Did the mail come?" Sarah asked her. Mrs Thompson just sighed.

"No Sarah, the mail hasn't come yet." She responded. "I swear, that's every day this week, what are you waiting for that's so...?"

Just then, there was a ring at the doorbell. Sarah got up and ran to the door, stumbling a little on her own feet as she tried to get there. She opened the door to find a mail carrier standing in front of her.

"I have a recorded delivery for..." He took a while to find the name on his register. "Sarah Thompson?"

"Here! Here, that's me!" She said, snatching the sheet from his hand and scribbling down a signature. He just smiled and looked out the parcel.

"Wow, someone's eager, what is it?" He asked. "Let me guess...a catalogue for dresses for the school formal?"

"Not exactly." Sarah said, ripping the package from his hands and slamming the door on him. She paused for a moment, before opening the door, finding the stunned mailman still there. She looked out a couple of dollars and handed it to him. "Sorry."

She slammed the door again, before checking the return to sender address, seeing that it was indeed Amber Beach Dinosaur Museum. Kendall had finally managed to send out the documents she needed for Brody and Mick. While Mick had been working happily in the school now for almost a week, she knew it wouldn't be long before he couldn't stall any longer and would have to submit his documentation. Brody in the meantime hadn't actually been able to enrol in the school. He had to hide out to ensure he wasn't found, and while that wasn't particularly difficult for him with his training, it was going to be a lot easier for the team when he could openly wander around the school and meet with them during the day.

"So, I take it you got what you were looking for?" Al called over. "I suppose we can all breathe easily now."

"That is a HUGE weight off my mind!" Sarah told them, kissing each of her parents on the cheek quickly. "Alright, I'll see you tonight. Dad, good luck with the guy that was...losing the thing...and messing up...the thing...bye!"

As she sprinted out the door, he just smiled and looked to his wife.

"She didn't listen to a word I said, did she?" He asked.

"She's happy, so I think that's a safe bet." She teased her husband. "So, what would you like for dinner tonight?"

Over at the school, Mick was reaping the benefits of a busy week. He, the Rangers and Redbot had put a lot of work into preparing the painting room as their base of operations. There were now multiple concealed entrances and exits. More than were absolutely necessary, but due to his eccentric nature, Mick was always a big proponent of having too many options than not enough. They had also made great use of the debris they had salvaged from their escape, the tools they had taken from Brody's dad's old workshop and some disused items from the Shop Class to set up an impressive workshop in the painting room for working the Ninja Steel into new weapons for their battles against Galvanax.

Redbot was busy by a furnace, pouring molten steel into moulds. Mick had been figuring out the best way to manufacture the fragments of Ninja Steel into weapons, and so far the best method he had found was to melt it down completely to forge into stars, before grinding and finishing by hand. Redbot looked to the moulds as he let the most recent ones start to cool in preparation for shaping, while Mick ground and sharpened the first ones.

"Forging this Ninja Steel is really making my circuits sizzle." Redbot commented as he looked away. Mick didn't really hear him, he was too busy with an angle-grinder, completing the first of them for use. Brody came in, taking a sip of some coffee.

"This is pretty good." He commented. "Datacomm, how long is the local store going to run its promotional pumpkin blend?"

"According to the stock records, the promotional seasoned pumpkin blend is scheduled to run until the end of this month." The Datacomm told him. Brody just smiled.

"Sweet!" He responded as he put down a coffee for Mick, while he took a sip of his. Mick put down his angle grinder and removed the first Ninja Star from the vice.

"Nice timing Brody, the old caffeine was getting a little low." Mick told him as he handed him the first throwing star. "What do you think?"

"Pretty nice work there Mick." Brody answered. Mick tasted his coffee and smiled.

"Hey, that's pretty good." He told him.

"It's seasoned pumpkin." Brody told him. "We'll be able to get it until the end of the month."

"The end of the month?" Mick asked him.

"It's a promotional item." Brody told him. "I already asked the Datacomm, it checked the stock records, they're scheduled to stock it until the end of the month."

"You asked your Datacomm that?" Mick asked him. Brody just nodded.

"Yeah, it's still connected to the ship's database." Brody answered. "Epic, right? We have access to all of their own data!"

"I guess so." Mick answered, putting down his coffee before heading into the middle of the room. "OK, now time to give this a try. If I remember the legends you told me right, all I have to do is...HA!"

He spun around, throwing the Ninja Star into the Ninja Nexus Prism, which accepted it and started to glow. Mick smiled, realising that his first creation was working like a charm.

"Wow Mick, you really are a genius." Brody complimented him.

"Well, you know, I don't like to brag but..." He said, before pausing. "Um...that seems to be building up a lot of...WHOA!"

Mick and Brody both leapt out of the way as the star came shooting out at great speed. It rebounded off the wall right next to Sarah as she arrived, causing the Pink Ranger to shriek. Mick came across, picking it up off the floor.

"Well, I don't remember the legends mentioning THAT." Mick commented. He inspected it, seeing that now, in place of the simple steel star, there was a new Power Star, with images depicting the elements. "It looks like it worked at least...but a little warning about the delivery might have been nice."

"I guess we just have to be careful when we're making them." Sarah commented, holding a hand on her chest, trying to return to a normal heart rate. She looked to Mick and Brody.

"You're here early." Brody commented. "You're even here before the others."

"Well, I believe in being punctual." She said, pulling out the package. "Especially when I come bearing gifts!"

Mick took the package off her, tearing it open and tipping the documents out onto the table.

"These all look great!" Brody complimented her.

"Mick Kanic?" Mick asked her, glaring at her. "Really?"

"I...didn't actually know your surname." She said somewhat apologetically.

"Yeah, I don't know your surname either, and I've known you more than ten years." Brody commented. "What is your surname anyway?"

"I don't have one." Mick told him.

"People here have surnames." Sarah explained. "A second family name..."

"Madonna doesn't." Mick told her. "Cher doesn't."

"That's not exactly the same thing." Sarah told him. "Still, you've got a birth certificate, a High School diploma from Arizona...by the way, you're from Arizona if anyone asks...degrees in mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering, passport..."

"Swimming badges?" Mick asked her. Sarah just shrugged.

"My friend is very...thorough." She told him.

"According to this I went to kindergarten and middle-school in Alaska?" Brody asked her.

"Brody, we can't say you're from here, people will notice a kid they've never seen or heard of claiming to be from Summer Cove." She reminded him. "There are only five kindergartens, and four middle schools."

"These documents really are remarkable." Mick said, inspecting them carefully. "Who's this friend you got them from?"

"So...new Ninja Power Stars!" Sarah said, taking the Power Star from Mick and inspecting it. She didn't like lying to her friends, but she did have to respect the privacy of her friends in Amber Beach, not to mention the fact that Kendall had essentially committed a felony to help her and her new friends keep their identities secret. "When do we get a chance to try them out?"

"We'll give them a whirl in training as soon as the others arrive." Brody told her. "Speaking of which, we finally got the training uniforms finished. You want a look at them?"

"Do bears shit in the woods?" Sarah yelled excitedly. Brody just shrugged.

"I don't know." He answered, lifting up his wrist. "Datacomm, do bears shit in the woods?"

"The common bear will defecate wherever it is most convenient for them to do so. While this is often in the woods, all they require is that it is not near their preferred living area." The Datacomm replied.

"You have heard of a rhetorical question right?" Sarah asked him, before putting a hand over his Datacomm. "Never mind, I'll explain later. In the meantime, let's see those uniforms!"

Up on the Warrior Dome, Wrench was walking through the ship, checking up his tablet as he looked for Cosmo.

"Pumpkin blend coffee? Bear's toilet habits? Who the hell wants to know all this?" He asked as he approached the producer. He was talking to a monster, who was in one of the many training rooms getting ready. While there were numerous training areas that monsters used to practice their various skills and to get into peak physical form for when they would get the call to battle, most of them were more like traditional gyms. This one seemed almost like an ice rink or roller arena. As he approached, Cosmo gestured him over.

"So, how is the investigation going?" Cosmo asked him. Wrench just shrugged.

"The only thing I'm figuring out is whoever is asking these questions is some kind of scatter-brained moron." Wrench commented. "These are just some of the questions asked since we spoke earlier!"

"Really? He actually asked that?" Cosmo asked, his eyebrows raising. He just shrugged. "I'd have just left it as an expression, but then who am I to judge what makes people curious? Anyway, I think I've found this week's contestant. Tell me what you think!"

Wrench looked out into the arena to see a creature whizzing around the arena on rollerblades. He was hitting some ramps, performing tricks as he flew through the air. Wrench just shook his head.

"Well, he'll look impressive on camera with all those gymnastics." He stated. "But...I thought you wanted fighters, not..."

He was caught off guard as the creature flipped through the air, at which flames erupted from his hands, blasting numerous targets scattered around. Wrench watched as they exploded, before the creature landed on his feet nimbly.

"I stand corrected. He could provide a lot of flash-roasted Rangers!" He complimented him.

"He's only had a handful of appearances, but I think the fire angle could really...light up the screen!" Cosmo chuckled. "He's got a little bit of an ego, but I can work with that. The only question is, where do I send him?"

"The Rangers always look to stop carnage. Look for somewhere with a lot of civilians." Wrench told him. "Datacomm, where is the most crowded public place in Summer Cove at 8 AM?"

"At 8 AM, the most populous area is central Summer Cove Plaza." The computer answered. Cosmo just patted him on the shoulder.

"Now, you have a real flair for this business Wrench." He stated. "Get to production, we have a show to introduce, and I want YOU to make the filming something special!"

"I won't let you down!" Wrench assured him, running off as Cosmo Royale returned his attention to the monster.

"You my boy are going to be a star." He told him.


	10. Datacomm

In the yard behind the Shop Class, the Rangers were gathered, as they had every morning before school. While they were all fit, and had handled themselves pretty well in their first battle, the first thing that all of them had acknowledged was that NONE of them were ninjas. Calvin and Hayley had a couple of Martial Arts lessons under their belt, Sarah had learned a few things from her friends in Amber Beach, and Preston...well...he had trained a lot for his tricks, so he had a good foundation, but no, none of them were ninjas. It was determined pretty early on that they'd have to meet up to work on their abilities whenever they could. Before school and after school, they had met for a little time getting a crash course in ninjitsu.

Today, there wasn't too much training getting done though. There was another focus entirely on the time before class.

"These suits are freaking AWESOME!" Calvin yelled, throwing some punches and kicks in his brand new training uniform. Brody and Mick had promised them some training clothing so that they wouldn't have to explain to their parents the sharp increase in their laundry, or the clothes they needed to replace. "I feel...I totally feel like a real ninja now!"

"WOOO HOOOO!" Preston whooped as he back-flipped through the yard, before landing a back-somersault. "This is amazing!"

"I definitely like this!" Hayley agreed. "The material is just so..."

"The material is a composite designed to allow both flexibility of movement, while being robust enough to take heavy physical training." Mick told them. "It's low friction, limiting noise, and it has some padding which SHOULD help with some impact...just don't think you should start walking through swords or anything in it."

"Well, we definitely look the part now." Sarah said, putting up her hood and pulling up her face scarf, having a little bit of a moment as she started rolling around on the ground and hopping around cover, imagining hiding from guards and pursuers. "Now we totally look like..."

"Actually the traditional look of the ninja is pure Hollywood." Brody said as he arrived in his own uniform. "They were primarily spies."

"I...thought they were assassins." Hayley stated. Brody just shook his head.

"That's another misconception. A more accurate description would be that they carried out assassination missions." Brody corrected her. "The Ninja were more like spies. They primarily gathered information and spread dissent among their enemies. While they WOULD carry out assassinations when they were called to do it, propaganda, disrupting supply lines, theft and saboteur work were their main functions. They were mainly gatherers of information."

"So what does that have to do with the outfits?" Calvin asked.

"They would wear whatever was best to make their mission easier in the situation. Most of them were peasants, so they'd often dress that way, but realistically they'd dress in whatever would draw the least attention to what they were doing." Brody continued. "Disguise was definitely well within their skill set."

"So why do people think of the whole...you know...mask and everything?" Hayley asked.

"It's a mix of ideas. It was probably derived from set-dressers in Kabuki Theatre." Brody answered her. "They dressed in full black outfits so they wouldn't draw attention to themselves against a black background as they moved the set around. The audience was basically trained to not see them so they were just ignored during a show. While there's nothing written to confirm it, I guess it's POSSIBLE that ninjas trying to get close to someone in a theatre might take advantage of this and disguise themselves as set-dressers."

"Well, authentic or not, these things ROCK!" Sarah replied, bouncing on the spot. "I feel like I could do anything!"

"Well, I'm glad you feel that way, because Mick and I came up with a little something to boost our arsenal." Brody said, causing them all to pay attention. "The ninja were pragmatists above all else. They'd use any tool or weapon available that would help their mission. A ninja had to be at one with their surroundings."

He took out some Ninja Power Stars, handing them out to the Rangers.

"Water, Air, Forest, Earth, Fire and Metal. These were the basic elements in the ancient world." Brody carried on. "You'll learn to harness these in the form of these new Element Stars. Calvin, would you like to give it a try?"

"Um...yeah, sure I guess!" He answered.

"OK, try a water blast." Brody told him. Calvin just nodded, before locking his Element Star into his sword.

"Ninja Element Star, Water Blast!" He called out, pointing the blade away from the others, picking a pile of hubcaps as his target. He was a little disappointed when nothing happened.

"Brody, are you sure this is working right?" Sarah asked.

"It was earlier." Brody said, looking to the blade. "Are you sure you remembered to..."

"...wait...I think I got it!" Calvin said, realising to his embarrassment he hadn't pressed the button on the blade. As he did though, he was pointing the sword behind him. The jet began unexpectedly and blasted him off his feet. Calvin clutched to the sword for dear life, something that turned out to be a mistake.

"WHOA!" Calvin called out as he flew like a rocket straight across the yard. The Rangers all cringed as they watched him slam into a shelving unit and all the debris stacked there collapse on top of him. "I'm OK!"

"Calvin's channelling his inner Tori Bellechi." Hayley stated. "He always does that."

"I loved Mythbusters." Sarah commented.

"OK Calvin, that's nice work. I'm sure you'll get it next time." Brody stated. "Now, who wants to try out the Fire Blast?"

He looked around, only to find none of the others in sight. Mick also noticed the sudden departure.

"Well, look on the bright side." He stated. "They seem to be getting better at the whole Ninja Vanish trick."

"It seems that way." Brody answered as he went to help dig Calvin out. "I guess we can pick this up again later."

Up on the Warrior Dome, Spinferno was heading for the stage when he found himself running into Galvanax. The champion was standing before him, drawing up to full height.

"You've been making quite a name for yourself lately." Galvanax complimented him. "Word has it Cosmo has chosen you as the next contestant."

"Is this where you try to intimidate me out of..."

Galvanax just gestured to Spinferno to follow him.

"Those Rangers stole the Ninja Power Stars. If you bring them back..."

"If I bring them back, there's only one thing I want!" Spinferno said with a smirk. "I think we BOTH know what that is?"

"The only reason I don't go down myself is because Cosmo and the Network keep turning down my requests, they keep denying me!" Galvanax said in frustration. "If you get those Power Stars, I swear I'll do everything in my power to give you what you want most!"

"You mean...?"

"If you bring back those Power Stars, you will be the most hyped rookie in the Warrior Dome!" Galvanax told him. "Make a formal challenge on camera, and I'll answer it! There's no way the network will be able to deny you that."

"A title shot?" Spinferno asked, smiling. "But I need..."

"I know how the rankings work." Galvanax interrupted him. "I also know how television works. You make that challenge on camera after winning this contest, there's no way Cosmo will be able to ignore the crowd reaction. You'll have your title shot."

"Consider it done." Spinferno answered as he raced onto the stage.

"He's hot, he's fiery, he's...WHOA!"

Cosmo was bowled over as Spinferno came onto the stage, knocking him over. He placed his hands on the stage, at which blasts came out, spelling his own name on the floor. Cosmo got up, looking annoyed.

"Hey buddy, get your own show!" He screeched.

"By the time I'm done, this WILL be my show!" Spinferno assured him, before turning to the crowd. "When it comes to Spinferno, I am on FIRE!"

The crowd cheered, loving the creature's arrogance. Confidence and bluster were popular traits among creatures. Whether people wanted to watch to see if they could back up their words, or simply wanted to watch to see them get their words rammed down their throats, Cosmo didn't care. As long as they paid, he didn't care why the audience wanted to see the monsters. However, as he dusted him off, he looked to Spinferno.

"Let's just hope for your sake you don't burn out!" He remarked.

"It's better to burn out than to fade away!" Spinferno stated. "And when I come back, this place is going to be MINE! This is MY time! Remember the name folks, Spinferno is your next Galaxy Wars Champion!"

Back at the paint room, the Rangers were just getting changed and dressed ready for school. Between them, they had managed to procure some clothing for Brody.

"So, you're sure...?"

"I'm sure Brody, you just need to stop by the desk to sign your name on the register and collect your schedule." Sarah told him, handing him his paperwork. "You're old headmistress 'Mrs Griffin' called to tell them to expect you."

"Mrs Griffin, got it." Brody replied. "Thanks again for this."

"Oh, one more thing, you'll need a back pack for your first day!" Preston said, taking out and handing Brody a backpack. He put his hand into the front pocket, poking his fingers out of a hole in the bottom of it. "My pet rabbit chewed a hole in the front pocket, but it should be good."

"Do you not have another I can use?" He asked.

"You can have my 'My Little Pony' backpack that I used to use in kindergarten." Sarah offered. Brody just took the backpack from Preston.

"I think this will be fine." He answered.

"Well, we should get to class; I want to be there early to get some extra study done." Calvin told them. "We need to practice if we're going to win."

"Yeah, I can NOT put up with Victor bragging about winning again this week!" Hayley groaned.

"You got beaten by Victor?" Sarah asked. "How? He's a moron!"

"He has no common sense, but he's pretty smart. He is on the honour roll you know." Calvin told her. "He also has Monty, and beating him...well...Monty's pretty much a team all by himself!"

"That makes a little more sense." Sarah answered. "You coming Brody?"

"I need to register. I'll catch up." He told them. As they left, Brody's Datacomm started to bleep.

"This is the final call for all technical personnel, all technical personnel to their stations." The Datacomm announced. "The show will begin in eight minutes. Spinferno will attack in Summer Cove Plaza."

"Your Datacomm, it's still hooked up to the ship's warning system." Mick responded. Brody smiled.

"That just means I can get the drop on him." Brody replied.

"Wait, don't you want to contact the others?" Mick asked as Brody headed for the exit. Brody just held up his wrist.

"They need to study." He reminded Mick. "Its fine, I can handle it with my Datacomm."

As Brody ran out, Mick turned his attention to a monitor.

"I really hope you know what you're doing Brody." He stated. "Spinferno is not a guy I'd want to handle alone."

Up on the Warrior Dome, Wrench was at the production station as Cosmo sent Spinferno to Earth.

"The Buzz-cams are all working great, the locations...we might want to get a shot over by the left there, can we fix that?" He asked.

"On it." One of the interns controlling the buzz-cams replied.

"Wider angle, wider...that's PERFECT!" He called out. "Now, maybe some introduction music..."

"Too late, the battle has started." One of them interrupted Wrench.

"WHAT?" Wrench called back. "But...but...how?"

"He does seem to have gotten there rather quickly." Madame Odious answered, causing Wrench to do a double-take.

"Where did YOU come from?" He asked. "I didn't see you in here before."

"Roll back on three." Madame Odious said, completely ignoring Wrench's question. They rolled back the footage, showing Spinferno appearing in a flash of light. He re-started the footage.

"Now I'll just find the Rangers and spring a surprise attack on them!" Spinferno announced to the first camera. "They won't know what..."

He was hit in the face with a flying kick, before he could finish.

"Surprise!" Brody called out as he pulled out his Ninja Sword.

"What? How did you know where I was?" Spinferno complained.

"That's for me to know, and you to never find out!" Brody responded as he rushed to the attack. Spinferno flipped back to his feet, barely able to get out of the way as Brody brought the blade down.

"I don't understand, how could the Red Ranger have gotten there so quickly?" Madame Odious asked. "The only way he could have been there was if he was already at the plaza."

"But he's meant to be at school. Why would he be at the plaza so close to school starting?" Wrench asked as he watched the fight closely.

In the school, Calvin was sitting, massaging his temples as he struggled to find the answer he was looking for.

"78.5 centimetres?" He asked. Sarah face-planted into her book.

"No Calvin, Pi R Squared is the AREA of a circle." She reiterated. "The circumference is the Diameter multiplied by Pi, so it would be..."

"31.4 centimetres." Monty sniggered as he crunched his way through a carrot stick. "Wow Calvin, no wonder that truck of yours keeps breaking down if you get the measurements of your parts that far out!"

"I never get the size of my parts wrong!" Calvin protested grumpily. He looked to Sarah who just shrugged.

"He is right though." She said. "You just used the wrong equation."

"Hey, guys, check this out!" One of the other kids who had come to class early called out. Victor's face lit up.

"Are you looking at YouTube?" He asked, pulling a muscle pose. "Did you see my new workout video? I called it, 'Some people polish their guns, I polish my HOWITZERS'!"

"No, it's...it's one of those new Rangers!" He called out.

"Oh, you mean that battle from last week?" Monty asked. "We've all seen..."

"No, it's streaming LIVE!" The kid clarified. "It's happening RIGHT NOW!"

This got everyone's attention, and now instead of studying, they were all crowding around the one kid with his tablet or pulling out their own to find the video. All that was except for the Rangers, who just looked rather confused.

"I'm not the only one missing the fact that out of five Rangers, there are only four of us here right?" Hayley asked.

"No, which means Brody's out there fighting that monster on his own." Sarah sighed.

"This isn't good is it?" Preston asked.

"No, no it's not." Sarah responded.

Back at the Plaza, Brody was using the forest element to bind Spinferno with vines. The monster was held in place long enough for him to get a couple of attacks off, but with a huge yell, he unleashed a curtain of flame that burned the vines to a cinder. Brody was only just able to get into cover as another fireball came his way.

"Man, this guy is a real pain in the ass!" He commented, pulling out his Datacomm. "Datacomm, what should I do?"

"Lower Spinferno's core temperature." The Datacomm told him. He just nodded his head.

"I think I have just the thing." Brody said, breaking cover. "Ninja Element Star, Water Attack!"

A jet of water surged from his sword, hitting Spinferno. A huge cloud of steam billowed out from him as it hit, cooling him quickly.

"Curse you Red Ranger!" He screamed. "Get me out of here!"

With that, in a flash of light, he disappeared, teleporting back to the Warrior Dome. Brody just put his Ninja Sword away.

"That was easy." He answered. "Damn it, I'm going to be late. Datacomm, what's the quickest way back to the school?"

"If you stay morphed and leap across the rooftops in a straight line, it will take you approximately six minutes to get back to Summer Cove High. You should arrive before the 9AM bell by seven minutes."

"Thanks Datacomm!" Brody said as he sprinted, leaping up off the ground onto the roof of the mall as the crowd cheered in appreciation of the Red Ranger.

In the production room, Wrench was pouring over the footage, trying to find out what had happened.

"I...I don't get it! It's like he had an answer for every move Spinferno made!" Wrench shrieked. "Odious, how did he...?"

He looked around, finding no sign of Madame Odious.

"Did anyone see where she went?" He asked. One of the interns just shrugged. "Damn it, how does she keep doing that?"

As he turned back to the screen, he saw Brody taking cover from one of Spinferno's blasts, right after he freed himself from the vines. He noticed that he seemed to have something in his hand.

"Pause that." He told the intern. "Enhance the image."

He pulled in, and saw that it was some kind of device.

"Move aside." Wrench said, shoving the intern out of the way. "You call that enhancing the footage? I'LL show you how to enhance!"

He pulled in the image closely, and started to filter the sound.

" _Man, this guy is a real pain in the ass! Datacomm, what should I do?"_

Wrench started to drum his fingers seeing this. He pulled up another image.

" _He's too fast! Datacomm, what can I do?"_

Wrench immediately pulled out his tablet and started to check on the mysterious inquiries he had been getting. He saw another couple that had been flagged.

" _Damn it, I'm going to be late. Datacomm, what's the quickest way back to the school?"_

It finally clicked. The random enquiries, so many questions pertaining to the area immediately around Summer Cove...looking around he saw that all of the slaves were wearing Datacomms...they had been called to production by the announcement which went out to ALL the Datacomms! That was it! That was how Brody had known where Spinferno would attack!

"Gotcha!" Wrench said in a satisfied tone.


	11. Tools of the Trade

Brody arrived back at the High School feeling more than a little sure of himself. In the space of less than an hour, he'd single-handedly seen off a monster, gotten registered and picked up his schedule for school, and still managed to get to his first class with time to spare. When he got there, the kids were still gathered around their various tablets.

"That video has one million and one views!" Victor whined, looking at it. "That's a million more than mine!"

"And I'm the one that watched yours." Monty told him with a shrug.

"Hey guys!" Brody said to his team as he arrived. When they turned to look at him though, they looked a little less than happy. "What?"

"We all saw the video." Sarah told him. "Brody, you took on a monster by yourself!"

"I didn't take him on by myself...I had my Datacomm with me!" He answered, showing him the Datacomm on his wrist. "It helped out."

"That's not the point Brody." Preston told him. "We're meant to be a team."

"It's alright, I had it covered." Brody said as he sat down. The teacher came in, somewhat rushing to get into the classroom. It was something of a habit for her to be in a hurry, timekeeping was never Ms Finch's strong suit. For a maths teacher, she was surprisingly disorganised, and was often seen walking some way to her classroom, before returning to her car for something she had forgotten to bring. It wasn't unknown for her to average about ten minutes late. The upside of that was that the kids rarely if ever got into trouble for being late to her class, since she knew she could never really hold them to a standard she couldn't meet herself.

"Alright class, we've got a lot to get through today so please just try to...well...keep up!" She told them. "First of all, we have a new student today. Um...Brody! Why don't you stand up and tell us a little about yourself?"

"Hi, I'm Brody..."

"Splendid! Now, let's begin!" She stated, before Brody had even fully stood up to answer. In some ways it was a blessing, while Sarah and her mysterious friend who had provided his forged paperwork had created a back-story for him, he hadn't had much of a chance to study it. He knew he 'went to school in Alaska', but beyond that he hadn't actually read enough of it to be prepared for any follow-up questions. Ms Finch seemed to be more interested in making good use of the time they had left in the class. "Alright, quickly now, into your teams! Excellent! Now, let's begin with the quiz. If I had five dollars, and I gave one friend a dollar twenty, and two others a quarter each, how much would I have left?"

"Calculate." Brody whispered into his Datacomm. Sarah noticed this and furrowed her brows. It distracted her from actually trying to figure out the answer herself.

"Three point two." The Datacomm told him. Brody's hand shot up, while everyone else was still scribbling down the sum, trying to figure it out.

"Three dollars and twenty cents!" Brody answered.

"That's correct, very good Brody! It seems our newest student is off to a good start." Ms Finch complimented him.

"It was a stupid question anyway." Victor commented, leaning back into his chair. "Nobody gives money to their friends!"

"I suppose it would require you have friends first!" Hayley responded, causing Victor to make a face at her. Sarah leaned across towards Brody.

"Brody, you can't use your Datacomm." She told him.

"Why not?" He asked her. Sarah couldn't believe that he couldn't figure that out. The students in the class weren't allowed to use their cell phones, heck; they weren't even allowed calculators for the weekly quiz! It was designed as an exercise for them to exercise their mental arithmetic, allowing them to get used to doing their working on paper. While exams did allow the use of calculators, the marks weren't only given for getting the answer right.

In maths and science especially, getting the answer right was only part of the awarding of the marks for a question. It wasn't even unknown for examiners to award NO marks for a correct answer if there was no working, presuming the student to simply have guessed the answer correctly. However, showing the working of the equation would be awarded at least some marks, even if the answer ended up being wrong, simply because the examiner could see that the student knew HOW to get the answer, and could see where the mistake was made. The full marks would be awarded if all the working was correct and the answer was correct. Encouraging the kids to get into the habit of writing down their working was a pretty good practice for teachers, and Ms Finch had found this was a good way to do that.

"Alright, now if I was to run for twenty minutes, skip for ten minutes and jump for three minutes, how long would I have exercised for?" She asked. Again, everyone started scribbling down their working, but Brody's hand shot straight up.

"Thirty three minutes!" He stated.

"Correct again Brody!" She complimented him. "Watch out Monty, it looks like someone is out to steal your thunder!"

"So much for teamwork." Calvin muttered as Ms Finch looked to her book for another problem.

Up on the Warrior Dome, Wrench had called Cosmo to the production room, explaining to him what had happened.

"This better be good Wrench." Cosmo told him. "I'm already dealing with a lot of grumbles about that Spinferno 'fight', and I do use the term loosely. What use to me is a monster that taps out three minutes in?"

"To be fair, the Red Ranger was a few steps ahead of him, and now I know how!" Wrench told him cheerfully. "You remember all those strange Datacomm enquiries I highlighted earlier?"

"Yes?" Cosmo asked him. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Wrench showed him the footage of Brody's fight, showing the Red Ranger holding a Datacomm, before launching the water attack.

"The Red Ranger...of COURSE!" Cosmo stated, the realisation coming over him. "No wonder he's been three steps ahead on our playbook. He's been the one using it!"

"He must have had his Datacomm when he escaped! He's been using your own database against you!" Wrench told him.

"That little shit! I should send Spinferno down there right now to..."

"Actually, I had...kind of another idea." Wrench suggested.

"What kind of idea?" Cosmo asked. Wrench brought up a screen, showing the inside of Ms Finch's classroom, where the quiz was well underway.

"Look at the latest enquiries from the Datacomm." Wrench told him.

"He's using it to win a stupid High School quiz?" Cosmo asked him. Wrench just nodded.

"What is the atomic mass of the hydrogen isotope deuterium, which was found in high concentrations...?"

Wrench quickly typed something into the computer.

"What are you doing?" Cosmo asked him.

"Oh, I'm trying a little experiment." Wrench told him. "Watch."

"One!" Brody called out, throwing his hand up. Ms Finch sucked her teeth.

"Oh, I'm sorry; it looks like the hot streak has come to an end." She told him. "One is the atomic mass of hydrogen; the isotope has an atomic mass of two. You probably just got them mixed up."

Brody just looked a little confused, but chalked it up to him not asking the right question or something similar. Cosmo smiled.

"I like the way you think." Cosmo stated. "I'm going to get Spinferno ready and then send him to the amphitheatre. Send the Rangers there at lunch time."

"Will do boss!" Wrench said, looking back to the screen.

Back at the school, the quiz continued, and with the exception of the one hiccup, Brody was dominating the quiz thanks to his Datacomm. The frustration was really starting to show in Monty, who was used to running away with it, while the Rangers had just given up even trying, knowing that Brody was going to jump in long before any of them had a chance.

Ms Finch stuck mainly to math questions, but she did throw in some trivia too so that the students paid attention and didn't lose concentration. Brody held the Datacomm to his ear, before throwing up his hand at the latest question.

"George Washington!" He called out.

"Hang on! I saw that!" Victor called out, pointing at Brody. He had suspected something was off given the fact that by now normally Monty was a good twenty points ahead. However, the more he watched Brody, the more he noticed him dipping down in his chair before answering. He had only caught a glance at the Datacomm, but he had seen Brody speaking into it. "I saw the new kid using that...thing...on his wrist! The new kid is..."

He stood up for dramatic effect, pointing to him like he was accusing him of a grave crime.

"...CHEATING!" Victor declared. Everyone just groaned. The only thing missing was a dramatic 'dun dun dun', from the way Victor was acting.

"Is that true Brody?" Ms Finch asked. "What is that?"

"It's my Datacomm!" Brody said, smiling and showing it to her. "It gives me answers to everything!"

Sarah just started banging her head on the desk, while the other three Rangers all face-palmed. They weren't even allowed to use calculators, and Brody had basically just confessed to using a computer database without so much as a hint of guilt! Ms Finch did not seem happy at all!

"Did you hear that Monty?" Victor asked. "He said that thing gives him answers to EVERYTHING."

"My Apple Watch does the same thing." Monty muttered under his breath.

"Well, I don't know how they did things in your last school, but around here? We call that cheating!" Ms Finch told him, going to the board and striking a line through all the points Brody's team had earned. "I don't want to see that in this class again!"

Brody just dutifully took his Datacomm off his wrist and put it in the front pocket of his backpack as Ms Finch walked over to Monty's desk. "

Congratulations Monty, you win again by default. That makes seven weeks in a row."

"YES!" Monty screamed as he punched a fist into the air, before holding a thumb and finger to his forehead, taunting the Rangers. They couldn't do anything other than take it, knowing that thanks to Brody, they really didn't have any right to do anything other than accept the loss. Even if they didn't cheat, they didn't do anything to stop Brody cheating, which made them guilty by association. The bell went to signal the end of the class.

"Alright class, that's all for today. We'll do the same again next week." Ms Finch stated. "Perhaps this time EVERYONE will play fairly!"

As Brody threw on his backpack, he didn't notice the Datacomm flying out of the hole in the pocket. He had forgotten that Preston had warned him there was a hole in that pocket. As they were leaving the class, Victor saw the Datacomm on the floor and picked it up. He caught Monty and pulled him aside.

"Monty, look what I have!" He whispered. "It's that new kid's Data...thingy."

"Let's see how smart he is without..."

"Monty, look at the bigger picture here. He said it gives him answers to EVERYTHING!" Victor stated. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That...your hair looks spectacular today?" Monty asked him, trying to think where he was going with this.

"NO!" He stated. "Well...yes, but...watch this. Data...um...thing. I have a life-or-death question. How do I make a video that will get more views than that battle this morning?"

Up on the Warrior Dome, Wrench was keeping track of Brody's Datacomm while he saw to other duties. The alert bleeped as the new inquiry came in.

"So, now the Red Ranger wants to know how to make his videos more interesting does he?" Wrench asked, before starting to type. "Well, maybe I'll give him a little advice!"

"You must defeat Spinferno alone." The Datacomm advised him. Victor just scoffed.

"Well, that's all well and good, but I don't know where or when..."

"Spinferno will be in the amphitheatre at noon today." The Datacomm responded. Victor smiled and handed the Datacomm to Monty.

"Here, get this back to the new kid before he realises he lost it and meet me at the amphitheatre." Victor told him.

"Where are you going?" Monty asked.

"If I'm going to play superhero, I'll need to look the part!" Victor said, pulling his best superhero pose. "Bring your camera!"

"Fight a monster?" Monty asked, looking to the Datacomm. "You know, for something that's supposed to have all the answers, it doesn't seem very smart!"

The rest of the morning went largely without incident; Monty had caught up to Brody and told him that he had dropped his Datacomm, giving it back to him before their next class. The team had gotten through the rest of the morning, with Brody spending most of his time just getting used to the classes. While Mick had taught him as much as he could on the ship, he hadn't really had much of a structured education. Sarah had picked out a good selection of classes for him, but it was clear formal education was something he was going to have to adjust to, especially the structure and the rules.

"Sorry!" Monty said as he accidentally bumped into Brody, almost causing him to drop his lunch tray.

"It's alright!" Brody called after him, still grateful that he returned his Datacomm. He furrowed his brows. "Where's he off to in such a hurry?"

"Don't try to change the subject Brody!" Sarah said, giving him a withering look.

"The thing is Brody, even if you were allowed; you shouldn't use your Datacomm for everything." Hayley continued with the lecture it felt like his team mates had been giving him all day. "If you let the Datacomm give you all the answers, you'll never learn to do anything for yourself."

"But if you have a tool, why shouldn't you use it?" Brody asked in response. "It's just being practical!"

"Well...what about honour?" Calvin asked him. "The ninja didn't use guns because they were dishonourable!"

"Actually they didn't use them because for most of their missions they were impractical." Brody replied. The team just stared at him. "What? The ninja would use any tool that would help them in their task. They used things like explosives all the time. You have to believe if guns were a practical choice, there's no way they wouldn't use them!"

"So...it wasn't an honour thing?" Preston asked him. Brody just shook his head.

"They did virtually everything in concealment. Imagine being inside a shogun's palace trying to take out a target." Brody explained. "The guns at the time were mostly single-shot muskets! Firing off a weapon that only has one shot and takes almost a minute to reload within earshot of dozens of enemies it a pretty dumb thing to do!"

"He has a point." Calvin sighed. "I guess that's another ninja myth we can chalk up to Hollywood."

"Hey, check this out!" One of the other kids called out. "That monster the Red Ranger was fighting has just turned up again!"

The Rangers all looked to Brody.

"That flame freak is back?" Sarah asked. "Why didn't your Datacomm warn you?"

"Oh, so now you WANT to use my Datacomm?" Brody said with an arrogant little smirk.

"It warned you the last time he showed up, why didn't it warn you this time?" Calvin asked.

"That's...that's actually a good question." Brody asked. "Datacomm..."

"We can ask it later!" Hayley said, grabbing Brody and hauling him out of his seat. She caught a glance at one of the many screens the students were using to watch Spinferno's new rampage. "It looks like he's at the amphitheatre."

"At least that's not too far." Calvin answered. "Come on guys!"

With that, the Rangers all ran out of the school, getting a safe distance before morphing.

Over at the amphitheatre, Spinferno was causing as much mayhem as he could in the hopes of getting the Rangers' attention. He had already tapped out once to the Red Ranger, he had a lot to make up for in the eyes of his fans. He wasn't overly concerned about the fact that Cosmo didn't seem to be happy about him running, all things considered it was better to take one loss and live than it was to wait on a loss he wouldn't walk away from! Still, he knew that had now tarnished his record, which meant the fans would see him as less of a credible threat to Galvanax's title belt.

He had already hinted at a challenge, and Galvanax had given him his word that if he got the Power Stars he would accept a public challenge if Spinferno offered it. It was a huge deal, one he couldn't afford to pass up. While he had an impressive winning streak, he knew that realistically it could be another couple of years before he was considered on Galvanax's level as far as the network was concerned. Of course if the FANS were demanding it, then they would have no choice but to take notice!

"Halt, evil creature!" He heard a bellowing voice ring out. He smiled as he heard this.

"I was beginning to think you would never show..." He turned around and his words tailed off. He started scratching his head in confusion. "Who the HELL are you?"

"Call me Victor the Victorious!" Victor declared as he bounded into view in what could best be described as an Adam West style Batman run, before standing with his hands on his hips. He was wearing what could only be described as a rather hastily and cheaply assembled superhero outfit, comprising of the tight trousers from his football uniform and the shoulder pads which he had spray-painted black with two large V's painted over the chest. He was wearing a cape, which draped down his back, and he gave the monster a toothy grin. "Leave now or feel my wrath!"

Spinferno just blinked, before doubling over laughing.

"You'll not be laughing in a moment!" Victor stated, picking up a fire-extinguisher he had brought with him, before looking to Monty, giving the camera a smile. "Fear not citizens, you're going to get quite a show!"


	12. Playbook Issues

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot!" Victor exclaimed as he ran around, his shoes on fire after one of Spinferno's attacks. The monster really did have nothing against the kid, and he hadn't any real intention of seriously hurting him, but while he was waiting for the Rangers to arrive, he figured he'd have a little fun with him.

He couldn't take it seriously when he saw some random kid standing before him in a home-made superhero kit, brandishing a fire extinguisher. He was laughing hard, almost uncontrollably as he watched Victor running around in circles. Victor's shoes finally went out, leaving him staring at the monster in fear.

"That's some dance kid!" Spinferno giggled. "Maybe we should see how high you can jump!"

"You're about to eat those words!" Victor gulped, trying to sound a lot more confident than he really was. He lifted up the fire extinguisher, pointing it at him. "EAT FOAM!"

He squeezed the handles, but he couldn't get the handles to compress. The extinguisher just sat uselessly in his hands. Panicking, Victor tried again and again.

"Monty, it's not working!" He rushed out, hitting the extinguisher off the ground as he tried to get it to work. The handles still wouldn't compress. "MONTY?"

"Victor!" Monty screamed. "Did you pull the pin?"

Victor just stared at the handles. The safety pin designed to stop accidental discharges was indeed still in the handles. He grabbed the pin and started to try and pull it, but the pin was stuck. He stared at it in horror, continuing to tug at it frantically, realising that in his efforts to squeeze the handles with the pin in place, he had inadvertently bent the pin, sealing it in place. Spinferno got to Victor, grabbing him and spinning him around.

"You're in the hot seat now!" He taunted Victor, firing off a blast straight into his backside. Victor screamed and leapt high into the air, before running off.

"Is that what constitutes good television now?" Brody asked as the Rangers arrived. "Tormenting kids?"

"No, that was just me keeping myself entertained until the real talent showed up!" Spinferno screeched, pointing to the Rangers. "You multi-coloured twerps are my ticket to a title shot!"

"Wait...you want to fight Galvanax, so you're doing what he wants you to do?" Preston asked. "Does that sound stupid to anyone else?"

"Scatter!" Brody called out as Spinferno started to skate around in a circle, generating a curtain of flame that expanded outwards towards the Rangers. As they all made their way clear, trying to get into position to attack, Brody took his Datacomm in his hand.

"The heat's too intense, we can't get close!" Brody stated. "Datacomm, how to we combat the flames?"

Up on the Warrior Dome, Wrench was by his workstation. He saw the enquiry come in, and immediately halted the data transfer. He started typing.

Back down on the ground, the Rangers were trying to find ways to get around Spinferno's flames. Calvin and Hayley were taking pot shots with their Ninja Blasters, but the heat ripples and the flames made him hard to see.

"Brody, what's the play?" Sarah called out.

"I'm just..."

"Cool down the flames." The Datacomm interrupted him. "A gentle breeze should cool them."

"Got it!" He stated. "Guys, keep his attention, I've got this! Ninja Element Star! Wind Attack!"

He activated his wind attack, and cast forward the gentle breeze the Datacomm had recommended. Unfortunately, it did not have the desired effect. He watched in horror as the flames started to spread and intensify, forcing his team mates to fall back.

"Brody, WHAT are you doing?" Sarah screamed at him, having to take cover behind a trash can.

"The Datacomm said that a wind attack would cool down the flames!" Brody told her.

"Well you're just fanning the flames!" Hayley yelled at him, shielding her eyes from the flames as she tried to pick out her target, firing wildly. "You're only making it worse!"

"Um..." Brody said as he tried to think of something.

"Well, it looks like the Red Ranger isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. Something of a wind-bag you could say!" Cosmo said, getting a huge laugh from the crowd. "Perhaps he could do with something more than hot air to back up his words!"

He was listening to his audience, but he couldn't say he was happy with what he was hearing. They were firmly behind Spinferno! Normally that would be a good thing, but after being mocked and disrespected on his own stage, Cosmo was not keen on the idea of advancing the rookie warrior. That Spinferno had already alluded to a potential title bout had angered him greatly. He had circumvented him, taking him out of the decision.

He looked around and saw the signs in the audience, and he was heartened to see that the Rangers were becoming the attraction he had hoped for. While he was only planning on leveraging them as an attraction like everything else, they were currently red hot, and while he wanted them to be destroyed on camera eventually, he wanted to be the one to decide when, and how it would be most profitable for him.

He saw a sign in the audience that angered him especially. Someone had one of Spinferno's posters, and had hastily drawn a title belt on it, and written "Spinferno For Champion" across it. He seethed as he turned back to the screen to keep track of the action.

Back at the amphitheatre, Brody ducked a fireball coming his way as he tried to think of his next move. He saw that Spinferno was generating the flames as he skated, and that he was moving around, preventing Calvin and Hayley from being able to get a bead on him. An idea came to him.

"Datacomm, I need to stop Spinferno from moving!" Brody rushed out in a panic. "How can I stop him?"

"Form a cage around him." The Datacomm recommended. "Roots growing beneath the ground will give ample materials."

"A cage, why didn't I think of that?" Brody commented. "Element Star, Forest Attack!"

He cast forward another beam, this time striking the ground. Roots started to erupt out of the ground, which Spinferno had to try hard to avoid. Eventually, as they formed up around him, he hunched over, powering up a huge heat, which pulsed out from him in a huge explosion. Instead of holding him, the cage exploded with it, sending burning shards of wood flying in all directions. All of the Rangers got hit by flying, burning debris and ended up on the ground.

"Well...that worked well." Hayley grumbled.

"Anyone get the number of that truck?" Preston asked.

"Ha, you're Earth's greatest hope?" Spinferno taunted them as he started to make his way towards them. "I thought you'd be a challenge! I was hoping you'd warm me up for a title shot! Now I see all you're good for is a speed bump..."

He stumbled and fell as something went under the wheels of his roller blades. He looked to what he had tripped over, seeing that Monty was cowering under a bench, keeping covered as the battle raged around him, but his feet were sticking out. He had tripped over Monty's feet. With a huge yell, he grabbed the bench, ripping it from the ground and tossed it away.

"You snivelling little...you DARE get in my way?" Spinferno screamed, before starting to form up a fireball. The terrified teenager just covered his face.

"MONTY!" Victor screamed, seeing his side-kick about to be flash-roasted. He grabbed his fire extinguisher in both hands. Being unable to get the safety pin out, he swung it with all the strength he could into a wall, striking off the valve. He turned the fire extinguisher on Spinferno, spraying him straight in the face.

Spinferno started spluttering and tried to clear his eyes, but by the time he had, he was greeted with the base of a fire extinguisher straight to the face. With huge yells, Victor swung the empty tube into Spinferno again and again.

After being distracted for a moment, he finally got his bearings enough to catch the fire extinguisher, ripping it from Victor's hands.

Spinferno ripped the shoulder pads from Victor, exposing his chest, before his hand burst into flame. He swung it into Victor's chest with incredible force, driving the air from him and searing his flesh sickeningly, sending him flying through the air. Monty tried to catch him in a vain gesture and they both ended up in a heap on the ground some way off.

"Oh man, if we've just been saved by Victor and Monty, I will NEVER live this down!" Sarah grumbled as she and her friends finally got back to their feet.

"Don't worry guys; I think I've finally got it!" Brody told them, powering up his blade. "Ninja Element Star, FLAME STRIKE!"

Up on the Warrior Dome, The screen erupted in an inferno, leaving it difficult to see much else. The crowd went absolutely wild as Spinferno came from the flame, now a good foot taller and looking far larger and more muscular than before. He hit the Blue Ranger with a clothesline, causing him to do a full flip before he hit the ground.

"WOW! Look at him go!" Cosmo declared, feigning enthusiasm as he saw his show being over-run by a competitor that thought he was bigger than the show. Spinferno rushed through the Rangers, smashing them all down one by one while Cosmo watched his latest promotional masterpiece literally going up in flames!

"Spinferno, Spinferno, Spinferno!" The crowd was chanting, starting to get to Cosmo. He looked to the screen, seeing the Rangers now diving for cover, trying to get some kind of respite from Spinferno's assault.

Back at the Amphitheatre, Sarah, Hayley and Brody all dove behind a wall, shielding themselves from another burst of flame.

"Man that guy's tough!" Sarah commented.

"I...I...I don't get it! He only seems to be getting stronger!" Brody stammered out. "I don't know what else to do!"

"Brody, think about it, we need to come up with a plan..."

"But...nothing's working!" Brody told her. "My last attack..."

"Brody, you're fighting a FIRE monster!" Hayley interrupted him. "What the hell made you think throwing fire at him was a great idea?"

"The Datacomm said to fight fire with fire..."

"You know what you get if you do that? A BIGGER FIRE!" Sarah snapped in response. "You just super-charged him! Do you see the size of him now?"

"But the Datacomm..."

"I'm sick of hearing of your stupid Datacomm!" Hayley said as she hazarded a glance out of cover, before being forced to pull back again. Sarah though had a thought.

"Brody, why did you launch that wind attack?" Sarah asked him.

"The Datacomm said a gentle breeze would cool the flames." He recalled.

"And why did you grow those roots?" Sarah asked him.

"The Datacomm said to make a cage out of roots..."

"Which are otherwise known as WOOD!" Hayley told him. "You just supplied him with fuel!"

"Brody, where does the Datacomm get its information?" Sarah asked him.

"It's linked to the Warrior Dome's database." He told them. "It has detailed files on all the monsters."

"The Warrior Dome's database?" Hayley asked, looking at him in disbelief. "Brody...who controls that database?"

"The Warrior Dome..." Brody tailed off as the realisation hit him like a slap across the face. "...engineers."

"Brody, the Datacomm's been telling you exactly the wrong move to make all the way through this fight, but you've been relying on it so long you've just been blindly following every word it said!" Sarah reprimanded him. "What if Cosmo figured out how you've been one step ahead of him until now?"

"You mean..." Brody just stared at the Datacomm; he had used it for pretty much everything for years. He had always gotten his information from it. He threw the Datacomm onto the ground and smashed it with the hilt of his ninja sword.

"Alright, we have to come up with a new play." Brody told them. "Let me think...holding him seems to be a good idea, but we need something he can't burn."

"CHAINS!" Sarah called out. "Steel has a melting point of thousands of degrees! Unless he's hotter than a blast furnace, we should be able to hold him for a little while at least!"

"Alright, do it!" Brody called out. Sarah and Hayley both broke cover and ran out as Calvin and Preston were busy avoiding his attacks.

"Ninja Element Star, Steel Attack!" They both called out, at which chains shot out of their Ninja Swords, holding Spinferno in place. He struggled against the chains, but they wouldn't budge. He concentrated on increasing his temperature, trying to melt them, but that would take him some time.

"Preston, Calvin, cool him off!" Brody told them. "Wind didn't work last time, let's try..."

"Way ahead of you!" Calvin stated as they both locked their Element Stars into place. "One cold shower coming up!"

They both poured on a huge torrent of water, creating a massive cloud of steam as it hit Spinferno. The monster could no longer see, and his efforts to free himself failed spectacularly. He saw a dark shape coming down towards him through the steam, and as it came closer, he saw a glowing blade coming down. It was the last thing he ever saw.

Brody landed on his knees as his Steel Slash came down, destroying Spinferno. He turned towards the nearest Buzz-cam and stared straight into it as the rest of the team formed up behind him.

"Show's over, Ninjas win!" Brody declared.

Up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo couldn't help feeling a little relieved that Brody had actually destroyed Spinferno. He didn't want the rest of his warriors getting the idea that they could dictate where and when they fought or decide between themselves who deserved title shots. As his computer was wheeled out, he could already hear the divided crowd.

"Oh dear, it looks like Spinferno has burned out?" Cosmo stated. "Who'd have thought he'd be undone by a little shower? So, what do you all say, should we give him another chance?"

He heard the crowd reacting, and the split became even more pronounced. There were a lot of cheers, but a lot of the audience felt let down by his performance and were booing loudly. He looked to the console and grinned broadly as the result came in, and a huge red X appeared on the screen.

"Oh, too bad Spinferno. I guess every flame eventually gets snuffed out!" Cosmo stated. "Still, there's still some time left, and I know you haven't seen one of these in a while...let's see how the Rangers stand up to a SKULLGATOR!"

Down at the amphitheatre, the Rangers were just taking stock of the damage. The fight had been brutal, and thanks to a few mishaps, Spinferno had all but completely destroyed a major city landmark. Calvin and Preston came over as they saw Monty trying to help Victor up and gave him a hand.

"Hey...kid." Preston said, recognising the class president, but remembering that he had to keep his identity secret. "Are...are you too alright?"

"Victor, he's hurt!" Monty told them. Calvin looked to the hand-print seared into Victor's chest and winced.

"That doesn't look good." Calvin told him. "You should probably go somewhere you can get that looked at."

"The Power Rangers...I fought with...the Power Rangers." Victor said, looking a little delirious.

"Hey, you were pretty brave there." Preston complimented him. "But um...next time you see a monster? Do the smart thing and leave it to the professionals."

As Monty started to help Victor away, Sarah just shook her head.

"Professionals?" She asked. "You know that we've only been doing this a week right?"

"A week longer than them." Preston reminded her.

"Hey, say what you will, but Victor really stepped up there." Calvin said gesturing after them. "I mean...he's still a complete moron but you have to admit, that took guts!"

"Please don't remind me." Sarah groaned. "I'm trying to repress the fact he kind of saved our butts there."

Just then, they saw a beam hit the ground a little way off. They all watched as bones started to form up out of thin air, coming together into a massive monstrosity.

"OK, what...what's that?" Calvin asked.

"That's something bad, very bad!" Brody told them. "I was hoping Cosmo wouldn't send one of these for a while."

"What is it?" Hayley asked.

"It's called a Skullgator." Brody told them. "Cosmo has a load of them in the bowels of the ship. They're insanely powerful and..."

"And seriously scary!" Preston gulped. "So what does the Datacomm say about these things?"

"I don't know about the Datacomm, but I say it's time for the Zords." Brody answered, pulling out his Zord star.

"Best idea I've heard all day." Sarah said with a smile as they all followed suit.


	13. The Most Powerful Weapon

Galvanax watched the battle from his chambers, a particularly luxurious set of accommodations known within the ship as "The Throne Room" because it was the quarters granted to the champion. While all the warriors on the warrior dome had accommodations and facilities within the ship, the champion, as befitted his station, was given the largest and most luxurious...at least as far as the contestants were concerned.

Galvanax had earned the right to this sanctuary some time ago, and enjoyed the privilege that went along with it. He sat on the throne, a literal throne that had been part of the decor since the show had been elevated beyond some simple back-water bouts in the dark reaches of the universe. Other than that, the champion had free reign to decorate however he chose. For Galvanax, that was remarkably Spartan. While he did have some decorations and furnishings, for the most part, all he had in the room were posters and photographs of the many legendary bouts he'd been a part of, and in pride of place, hanging over the screen he used to watch the bouts to scout for future challengers, the championship belt.

The belt was more than just a trinket to Galvanax. It represented his years of struggle, his dedication to his power and strength; it was a symbol that showed that he was the greatest warrior in the universe. Inlaid with gold and precious metals and jewels, the belt was as large and as heavy as some people, being somewhere in the region of a good one hundred pounds all in, its weight acting as being a metaphor for the burden carrying it represented. Galvanax was the best, the strongest, the toughest, and it was his duty to prove it against any and all challengers.

At least...that was what it had been. Galvanax cared little for the politics and showmanship of Galaxy Warriors. He had won his belt in a titanic battle against the previous champion well over a decade earlier that had left an entire planet in ruins, and had rendered more than a thousand species extinct by the time the dust had settled, but even then, with his body broken, and his evil heart barely able to sustain him, he had still raised the title high above his head to proclaim to the universe that if anyone wanted to declare themselves the best, he was the one they would have to defeat!

Over time though, it became apparent that the show was more about ratings and merchandise than the thrill and purity of combat. He had dispatched dozens of challengers since he had won the belt, but even he had noticed the quality of the challengers varied. Some he relished as glorious tests of his ability. Others...others were there just to get Galvanax onto television for a bump in the ratings. To say some of them weren't in his league would be an understatement; some of them were only there due to Cosmo making some deal to expand his distribution rights or to appease a system by putting their local darling into the main event. Many of them were barely even worth the stains on his naginata.

Galvanax knew that his image was important, and it was as important for Cosmo to protect his champion's image as it was to put on entertaining bouts. As of this year, it had now been three years since Galvanax had faced a title bout. Not only was he weary of waiting for another glorious battle, he was also worried that the day would come that his audience would notice that he had been absent from any serious competition in some time. That he hadn't had a bout in some time and the few he did have were against opponents in no way a threat to him. In short, the day would come when the talk would begin that he was ducking the real contenders.

That angered Galvanax more than anything else. He could live with the gaudy nature of the show and the gauche and disgusting commercialism of the bouts, not that he ever refused to cash a royalties check on a point of principal, but that eventually he would be seen as a paper champion, a joke, worthless.

Spinferno was promising. He was young, fast, brash...he was everything that Galvanax had hated, being a stoic competitor that tended to let his fighting do the talking for him, but Spniferno had shown that he could go, and he was eager to force Cosmo to finally put him back on the main event against a monster that would last more than a couple of minutes in a squash match.

He was disappointed that Spinferno had fallen; he was even more disappointed that the audience had chosen to deny him a second chance, but as he saw the Zords facing the Skullgator, he was starting to imagine something else. The Rangers, the ones who had taken his power stars were now the ones to beat. The crowd was electric for them, and he was sure that there were some who were already dreaming of seeing him in the field against them.

Of course, what would really be telling is if they could best a Skullgator. They were massive and powerful creatures that had caused untold devastation on their home worlds. Cosmo had picked them up because they were very popular with the crowds. More than capable of tearing apart armour and concrete as easily as flesh and bone with their powerful jaws and huge weapons, few could stand against one and live to tell the tale. Galvanax leant forward, stroking his jaw as he considered the Rangers. They would have to be destroyed sooner or later, but with the power they were showing, he was starting to wonder if perhaps they were the challenge he had been seeking all along.

Back in Summer Cove, Calvin tumbled backwards as he leapt from the Skullgator's nose, having leapt onto it from his Zord in a rather desperate attack. The Zords were managing to keep it busy, and the Rangers were more than capable of keeping it staggering and off-balance, but so far they had yet to find a way to finish it off. Nothing they did caused enough damage to bring it down for the count.

"Whoa, that thing is TOUGH!" Preston commented as he launched a flame attack at the Skullgator. "I think we've thrown just about everything at it!"

"We can bring it down; we just can't get it to STAY down!" Hayley complained as her Kodiak Zord seized one of its legs, causing the Skullgator to face-plant into the ground. Brody thought about it for a moment.

"Maybe it's about time we try something new." He suggested. "None of us can take it down individually, but just like we've come together as a team, maybe the Zords can too."

"Like a...Magazord?" Sarah suggested, beginning to shake with excitement at the prospect. She knew they already had the powers and the weapons and the Zords, but the one thing they hadn't tried yet was forming a Megazord! She could remember Shelby and her team talking all the time about the incredible power they felt in the Megazords, which were stronger than the sum of their individual Zords. She had seen them use multiple combinations and variations of their Megazords.

"Um...yeah, I guess." Brody replied. "Zord stars, Ninja Zords, Combine!"

The Rangers all leapt off their Zords as they started to shift and change, forming up into one single Zord, carrying a sword and shield. Instead of landing on top of it as they were used to, they rushed inside, landing in a cockpit by some podiums, leaving them a little disorientated.

"Where are we?" Preston asked.

"Are we...inside the Zord?" Hayley asked.

"Oh this is AMAZING!" Sarah squealed, dancing excitedly by her podium.

"It doesn't appear to be doing much of anything." Calvin said, looking to his podium. "It doesn't appear to be powered up."

"Wait, there are power stars here." Brody told them, picking one up from his podium. "It looks like they have Ninja Masters on them. Lock them in!"

"Ninja Master Mode, Ninja SPIN!" They all called out. They felt a new and more powerful energy rushing through them as armour formed up around them, covering their chests and shoulders. Brody saw his sword glowing brightly, before it transformed into a huge contraption, which looked only vaguely like a sword, but also seemed to incorporate three circular saws that were equipped to turn in opposite directions to each other.

"Man, this is EPIC!" Brody called out.

"I could definitely get used to this!" Calvin said, inspecting his armour.

"How come only Brody gets the cool sword?" Hayley asked.

"It's a Red thing. They always get the cool toys." Sarah remarked, causing them all to stare at her. "Um...well...it seems that way from seeing the other teams."

Just then, the Skullgator roared as it finally got back to its feet. Preston just pointed out of the cockpit.

"Maybe we should discuss this later, when that thing isn't trying to tear us apart?" He suggested.

"You read my mind Presto!" Brody answered. "Ninja Master Mode, Final Attack!"

He pulled the rip cord on his word, starting the saw blades spinning. He held the sword tightly in both hands as he raised it up.

"Ninja Slash, HAH!" They all called out, swinging their swords in unison. The Megazord's sword started to glow with power, before coming down, slicing straight through the Skullgator. It fell over backwards, exploding as it went. Brody just stood, resting the sword over his shoulder as the blades came to rest.

"Show's over, Ninjas Win!" He declared proudly.

On the Warrior Dome, Cosmo was dancing a jig as the ratings came in. The latest contest had everything that made his audience happy. Drama, surprises, a major comeback...he was always keenly aware that any warrior, any asset had a shelf-life and he was always keeping an eye on them to ascertain when that market value started to slip, but the Rangers just seemed to get more and more valuable. The previous week had been the highest ratings in years for him, but this week had broken even that record!

As he came into the throne room to relay the results to Galvanax though, the champion was already in one of his moods. One of Cosmo's many responsibilities was to keep his talent happy...that was to say, keep them from becoming a problem and keep them on the show. He had managed to keep Galvanax for over ten years with the prospect of him getting the power of the Ninja Power Stars. However, now that the Power Stars were beyond their control, he was having to deal with another frustration Galvanax had, and that was lack of exposure!

"I'm sorry Champ, I was sure Spinferno would prove to be a worthy challenger for sure." Spinferno lied expertly. He had been more than aware that Spinferno was planning to go into business for himself, declaring himself a challenger on live television. Given how unwise it was to anger Galvanax, he was sure that the Champion had probably already spoken to him and convinced him that a challenge would be accepted. While Cosmo was more than willing to promote the battle, he didn't like being cut out of the decision making process, and he also didn't relish the thought of losing an asset before one or both of them had been mined for every penny he could squeeze from their image. "Still, the crowd loves the Rangers, especially their new Megazord!"

Madame Odious was also in the room, trying, but failing, to keep Galvanax calm. While she was on the payroll of the Warrior Dome, one of her main duties was management. She represented the interests of a few of the fighters on board. It was a profitable business model, since as far as the warriors she represented, Galvanax included, trusted her with their interests, while completely ignorant to the fact that being on the Warrior Dome's payroll, she was effectively always in a conflict of interests that generally always slanted in favour of Cosmo. It was the only reason he allowed her to take money from the warriors to represent them.

"Of course they do, it's AMAZING!" Galvanax snapped at him, grabbing Cosmo by the coat and yanking him off his feet. "But it also DEFEATED us!"

"I think what the Champion is trying to say is, we're a little concerned with what this development means for the interests of the champion." She told him. "The Rangers are causing quite a stir, and it has shaken up the format of the show quite a bit."

"So did the Pay-Per-View network." Cosmo said with a grin. Galvanax just growled, indicating that he was not amused at all. "Listen Champ, no one is more disappointed than I am that Spinferno couldn't get the job done, but if he can't handle a couple of children, what hope do you think he'd have had against a mega-star like you?"

"I guess we'll never find out, will we?" Galvanax stated, tossing Cosmo aside. "Bring me another loser, and I'll fire both of you...STRAIGHT INTO THE SUN!"

Cosmo just nodded in understanding as he and Odious left the room. He just grinned widely as he lit up a cigar.

"Yeah, like you could handle any of this without me." Cosmo said with a look of satisfaction on his face. "The network would chew you up and crap you out faster than any challenger."

As he left, Madame Odious just watched him go, making sure she was on her own, before reaching into her robes, pulling out the Gold Power Star.

"The Rangers aren't the only ones working on their next big asset." She commented, tapping a nearby poster, which disappeared, revealing a secret passage. "Before long, they're not going to know what hit them!"

In the Paint Room, the Rangers made their way inside, finding Mick working on something. There was a lot of jubilation and high-spirits, but one of them was noticeably subdued by comparison to the others.

"Wow, that was totally amazing!" Hayley commented as Kody came bounding over to her, looking for a scratch from his owner, delighted to see her return. "I mean, I love my Kodiak Zord, but that Megazord was something else!"

"It was like it was nitro-powered...on STEROIDS!" Calvin said excitedly. "I can't WAIT to get behind the console of that thing again!"

"Brody?" Preston asked, noticing that instead of celebrating, the Red Ranger was just sitting in a corner, moping. He looked more like he'd lost the battle than won it.

"Hey Brody, what's wrong?" Hayley asked him.

"I almost cost you all everything." He muttered. "A ninja is meant to use any tool that makes their mission easier, but they're never meant to RELY on any one tool. They're meant to be adaptable."

"Brody, we won." Calvin reminded him. "The bad guy's ash, we're not!"

"But we nearly were!" Brody answered. "No thanks to me. I thought I was a ninja, just like my dad taught me, but I forgot one of the most basic rules. I never even realised how much I relied on that Datacomm until it no longer gave me all the right answers. When I had to rely on myself..."

"Hmm...interesting." Mick said, beginning to pace thoughtfully as he thought about this. "And when you were teaching the guys to use the Element Stars earlier, that was the Datacomm wasn't it?"

"No, that was me." Brody told him. "My dad already trained me, I knew that stuff already."

"And when we escaped from the ship, that was the Datacomm too right?" Mick asked him.

"Well, it was down to Wrench..."

"Wrench?" Sarah asked, looking a little uncomfortable. She recognised the name, but...no...it wasn't possible was it? It wasn't like there was only one 'Sarah' in the world; it had to be a coincidence...wasn't it?

"One of the other interns on the ship." Brody explained. "I talked to him and convinced him to hack security."

"And the Datacomm told you to do that didn't it?" Mick asked him.

"Well...no." Brody told him. "The ninja often used inside men. Why bother breaking in when you can ask, bribe, blackmail or coerce someone into leaving the door open?"

"What about after you smashed the Datacomm?" Hayley asked him. "Once you did that, once you started coming up with your own ideas..."

"Things fell into place." Brody said with a smile as he realised what they were all getting at. "I had the skills I needed all along, I just relied too much on the Datacomm and stopped relying on the skills I already had."

"Sizzling Circuits, I think he's got it!" Redbot exclaimed.

"It's still a shame the Datacomm's gone. Having advanced warning of where the monsters were coming would have been sweet." Preston stated. "But in the grand scheme of things, I guess it's a gamble that wasn't worth taking."

"Well, you may not have access to the Warrior Dome Database anymore, but I have something that will link you to something even better!" Mick told them, leading them to his workbench. The Rangers looked to see that he had created what looked like five Datacomms, only they were a lot smaller, and looked a lot more like they could be regular watches. "These Ninja Comms will allow you to communicate with each other securely!"

"So we'll always be linked to something even better than the Warrior Dome." Sarah declared happily, strapping on her Datacomm and holding her fist in. "The Ranger team!"

The others all did likewise. Sarah was elated, and couldn't wait to call her friends and tell them about her amazing new team. She had loved being a part of the Amber Beach team, but now, she truly knew what it was like to have a team of her own, and as much as she understood the risks and dangers they would now face, she couldn't wait for the new adventures that would await them!

"Hey, check this out." Hayley heard a voice say. "Who's this bozo?"

"Guys, check this out." Hayley commented, bringing their attention to the computer. "Redbot, were you looking at this?"

"I was checking to see what the reports are saying about the Rangers." Redbot told her. "I wanted to see if we needed to try and quell any reports that risked revealing..."

"This is a YouTube video of our battle." Calvin stated. "Is that...is that Victor?"

The Rangers watched as Hayley re-started the video, which showed Victor in his battle with Spinferno. It was set to some goofy music, and overlaid with messages commenting on his fails. They started laughing as they saw him take the flame to the rear and start running around.

"Poor Victor!" Hayley sniggered. "This video's going to be broadcast all over the world!"

"It already has been." Calvin told her, pointing to the views. "It's already over four million! It's four times more popular than OUR video!"

"Well, I...guess he kind of got what he wanted then!" Preston chuckled.

"It's the downside to the ninja thing." Brody answered. "No credit."

"If that's credit, he can keep it." The voice said again. Hayley just rolled her eyes.

"There's no need for silly voices Redbot." She told him. Redbot just looked at her.

"What silly voices?" He asked. "I always sound this way."

"I mean when you told us about the video..."

"I never said a word about the video. You did." Redbot told her. She just looked around her friends.

"So which one of you...?"

"None of us saw the video." Calvin said to his girlfriend, putting his arm around her. "We all heard about it from you."

As she looked around, Hayley saw that the all nodded to confirm the detail. She furrowed her brows; she could swear she heard someone speaking to her. She eventually just shrugged and chalked it up to exhaustion.

"Hey, who wants to watch it again?" Brody asked. The team all enthusiastically agreed and re-started the video. They knew that there would be a lot of battles to come, and for now, now it was the time to laugh with their new friends.

FIN


End file.
